what is love?
by 00start-of-time00
Summary: Two high schools, both alike in dignity, in fair California, where we lay our scene. From ancient grudge break into new mutiny, a pair of star crossed lovers defy their destinies. Lydia is from Devenford Prep. Stiles is from Beacon Hills High. They weren't supposed to be like this.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: hey guys i am back! i have a little time before i go back to school and not much to do so i will try to get back into writing! here is a new story that i have been working on, let me know what you think and maybe i'll upload the other chapters i have!**

 **in regards to the other stories i have that are clearly unfinished, i will go back in my notes and reread them to see if they're worth finishing. if not, i may just scrap them.**

 **thanks guys! love you! review review review please!**

"GO DEVENFORD!"

The screams and shouts from all the cheerleaders in their area was becoming too much for Allison and Malia. They watched, mouths open, as the squad from their rival school, Devenford Prep, beautifully executed their last routine. Allison crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes as they finished their last bit and bowed. Her head was beginning to ache. They began to exit the floor and passed the Beacon Hills squad on their way out.

Today was the Northern California Sectionals for Competitive Cheerleading. Allison knew that they were good enough to qualify for Regionals, but she knew that Devenford was better. It frustrated her.

Devenford Prep and Beacon Hills always had a thrilling rivalry. It started on the lacrosse field but then moved to other things, such as cheerleading and academics. Everyone from Beacon Hills hated everyone from Devenford Prep and vice versa.

But Allison always found it difficult to hate Lydia Martin, the cheer captain of Devenford Prep.

"Nice routine, Lydia." Allison said with a fake smile. As Lydia walked passed her, she stopped to talk with her for a bit. She genuinely smiled, like she couldn't see how fake Allison's compliment was.

"Thanks, Allison! Good luck out there. You'll do amazing." She began to walk as one of her team members and best friends pulled her aside and started laughing with her.

"Is that girl as dumb as she looks? Wasn't it obvious that you weren't trying to be nice?" Malia, one of her best friends, said. "That girl is too nice for this rivalry."

Allison nodded in agreement as she watched the girls fade away in the distance.

"OKAY, BEACON HILLS LADIES. LOCKER ROOMS IN 5! WE'RE UP AFTER LINCOLN."

At the end of the day, both schools, Beacon Hills and Devenford, qualified for Regionals. The only difference was that Devenford placed first and Beacon Hills placed second.

"It's so frustrating. No matter what I do, Devenford is always going to be better than us." Allison whined as she sat down for lunch the Monday after. Malia, who was sitting across from her, smiled sympathetically as she took a bite of her sandwich.

"It's okay, babe. With a little more practice, I bet you'll destroy them at Regionals." Her loving boyfriend, Scott McCall, said as he side hugged his girlfriend. Allison pouted and began eating her lunch as more of her friends sat down at their table.

"What's with the sad face, ladies?" Scott's best friend, Stiles Stilinski, sat down next Scott.

Malia finished chewing as her boyfriend, Isaac Lahey, took a seat next to her and put his arm around her.

"Allison's just upset because Devenford's cheer team placed first at Sectionals this weekend and we placed second." Malia said in a monotone voice. Allison sighed as she ate her yogurt.

Stiles looked to Scott as Kira Yukimura sat down across from Stiles.

"Hey guys. What's wrong with Allison?" The entire table laughed as Allison groaned and put her head down.

"I don't want to talk about it, Kira."

Kira laughed as she began eating.

"You excited for lacrosse tryouts today, guys?" Malia asked. Kira whipped her head to glare at her. "And Kira?"

Allison giggled with her head in her arms.

"It should be an interesting afternoon, let me tell you that." Scott replied with an eyeroll. Allison lifted her head slowly.

"Why do you say that?" She asked with curiosity.

Stiles sighed and crossed his arms as he gestured to a younger looking boy sitting alone at a table not so far away from them.

"Because of that kid."

As everyone turned to look at him, the kid looked up with wide eyes and then looked back down and stared at his lunch.

"That's Liam Dunbar. It's his first day here." Scott commented.

"Is he our age?" Allison wondered.

Scott shook his head. "No, he's a sophomore, I think. But according to the coach, he's really good." Stiles nodded.

"And that's not even the most interesting part about him." He added. "He's transferring from Devenford Prep."

The whole table gasped rather loudly, causing some to look over at them.

"He's from Devenford? What is he even doing here?" Isaac whispered harshly. "Everyone's going to hate him!"

Scott shrugged. "I don't know. That's all Coach said to Stiles and I when he called us into his office last week."

"I feel terrible for him. He probably doesn't even want to be here." Kira said with pity.

"Well, I have a feeling tryouts are not going to go well when the team realizes he's from Devenford." Stiles said. Scott, Isaac, and Kira nodded in agreement.

"Tell us how it goes!" Malia tells them. "We should meet up for ice cream tonight or something. Allison and I will be on the field today anyway. Heather broke her ankle this weekend, so we're looking for her temporary replacement."

The bell rang and everyone began getting up.

"Ice cream tonight, then. Meet in the parking lot at 5:30?" Scott asked as he got up and grabbed Allison's garbage.

The group nodded before going their separate ways.

"Alright, you babies. Today, you all did pretty good." Coach said. "I'm also happy to announce your team captains for this year: Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski. Hopefully they won't screw up."

Scott and Stiles silently high fived each other as they continued to listen to their Coach babble.

"Don't forget about our annual lacrosse/cheerleading classic in a few weeks. Get your permission slips to me as soon as possible!" He exclaimed. "I'll also be posting the team list on my door before you all leave, so check it out. Practice tomorrow right after school. Don't be late! Yes, that means you Greenberg!"

Scott and Stiles walked slowly to the locker room as the rest of their team sprinted.

"I forgot about that classic, to be honest." Stiles commented.

They passed by Allison and Malia, who were sitting against the fence. They were discussing their tryouts.

"Reena was pretty good...right?" Malia tried. Allison rolled her eyes as she shook her head and crossed her name out.

"Her landings are sloppy. And she's not even that peppy!" Allison sighed frustratedly. "I think the best girl we saw was Lyla, but even she wasn't as good as Heather."

Malia shrugged and grabbed the clipboard. She circled Lyla's name.

"Then let's freaking pray that Heather gets better before Regionals."

"Hey girls. Were your tryouts successful?" Scott asked with a smile.

Allison helped Malia to her feet as she hugged Scott.

"No," Her voice was muffled in Scott's chest. "There were no girls that wowed me. We're doomed." Malia rolled her eyes.

"How was the sophomore at tryouts for you guys?" Malia finally asked. Stiles crossed his arms.

"He definitely made varsity. Coach wasn't kidding, he's amazing." Scott nodded.

"Yeah, I agree, I'm just worried about how well he's going to fit with the rest of the team."

"Makes sense. He's from Devenford...it's not going to be so easy to accept him." Malia answered.

"Scott, you're smelly. Go shower." Allison told him with a scrunched up nose. Malia and Stiles laughed as Scott's feigned a hurt face before walking to the locker room.

The group went to their local diner, Rocky's, to get ice cream and milkshakes. They sat in their regular booth, laughing and occasionally doing homework.

"Malia, what's the answer to 3?" Isaac asked her. She let out a laugh.

"Please, Isaac, I have no idea. Ask Stiles." He pouted and then turned to the boy across from him.

"Stiles-"

"I have to go to the bathroom." He said as he got up from their booth. Malia laughed loud before taking a sip from her milkshake. A few minutes later, Stiles came back.

"Well that was quick." Isaac commented. Stiles shrugged.

"I didn't actually have to go." The table erupted into laughter.

They heard the door open as the bell rung throughout the diner. They all turned to see who it was. Allison and Malia were rather shocked to see who it was.

"What the hell?!" Allison exclaimed quietly. Malia narrowed her eyes and tilted her head.

Isaac, Scott, and Stiles didn't miss the surprise that Allison and Malia showed.

"Is that-"

"Yeah..."

For it was Lydia Martin who walked through the door, her tight and short Devenford cheer outfit still on her as she entered.

Before she knew it, Allison was up on her feet, walking towards Lydia.

"Wait, Allison!" Malia said.

But it was too late. Allison had already reached the beautiful redhead that was standing in line.

"So...that's…" Stiles stuttered. "That's Lydia?"

Malia turned to look at her friend and slapped his arm.

"Don't even think about it, Stilinski."

Allison crossed her arms and coughed loudly causing Lydia turned to look at the girl. Her green and white uniform clashed with Allison's maroon and white uniform that she was wearing. Allison moved her hands to her hips and narrowed her eyes.

"Lydia."

"Allison?" Lydia responded with a smile. "Hey!" Allison rolled her eyes.

"Lydia, what are you doing here?" Allison asked rather harshly. This time, Lydia noticed that Allison was thoroughly not being nice, and her face fell.

"I...I live here." Allison raised an eyebrow skeptically. She obviously didn't believe her.

"You're joking, right?" Allison scoffed. "Lydia, if you lived here, you would be going to Beacon Hills High and not Devenford."

For the first time in her life, Allison saw Lydia roll her eyes.

"If you stopped attacking me for two seconds, you would remember that Devenford is a private school. It doesn't matter where you live if you go to a private school," She replied with sass. "So no, I'm not joking, I live here. My mom's the assistant principal at Devenford which is the only reason why I go there."

At that moment, the group realized that this was escalating quickly and turned to look away.

"Stiles, what's the derivative of 20x^2+10x?"

Stiles, who didn't really care about math at the moment, was too intrigued by the Devenford cheer captain.

Allison continued to stare her down. Lydia wasn't backing down either.

"God, why do you do this every time we meet?" Lydia asked angrily. Allison was a bit surprised that she was speaking her mind. She usually just smiles and says something nice to her. "Yeah, don't think I've neglected to notice your hostile behavior every time we see each other a competition. And I have never understood you. I have done nothing to you but be polite and nice! Is that not good enough for you?"

Soon, it was her turn to order. Rocky coughed awkwardly, causing the two to break their stare.

"Lydia." He said.

Lydia regained her posture and sighed. She replaced her irritated face with a smile.

"Hey, Rocky. The Martin usual, please." She said. "Oh, add an extra cheeseburger and a chocolate milkshake with that. Mr. Martin is making an appearance tonight." Rocky nodded with content and went to go place the order.

Allison seemed to back off a little from hearing her order.

"...you...you have a "usual" here?" Allison asked weakly. Lydia crossed her arms and nodded.

"Yeah. An extra large fries with a side of cheese, two strawberry milkshakes, one plain burger with lettuce, tomato, and onions and one cheeseburger with lettuce and Rocky's secret sauce." Lydia rambled off.

Allison uncrossed her arms, almost waiting for her to say more. She did.

"When my mom has late night meetings, she doesn't have time to cook. I usually just get us food here because it's quick and close. I live in the neighborhood down the street." Lydia explained.

Allison nodded with understanding and awkwardly stood there as Lydia was waiting for her food.

"Look, I'm-"

"Lydia, here's your food." Rocky interrupted, holding two bags and holder of shakes. Lydia walked to counter and grabbed her food while throwing Rocky a smile.

"Thank you."

Lydia turned to Allison and briefly looked at her before turning towards the door.

"Lydia-"

"See you, Allison." Just as she reached the door, she added, "By the way, the derivative is 40x+10."

With that, Lydia left and Allison trudged back to their table.

"Nice going, Ally," Malia huffed. "You looked like a total bitch in front of everyone here."

Allison moaned and hid her face in her arms.

"I'm a terrible person."

The next day, right before 5th period, Stiles noticed a familiar face walking aimlessly around the freshmen lockers. He hesitated to go talk to her, but eventually sucked it up and walked towards her.

"Lydia?" He asked. Lydia's head whipped up to see the mysterious person who decided to talk to her.

"Uh, hi! Yeah, I'm Lydia," She said nervously. "If you know my name, you must know who I am." She immediately recognized his face as she looked at him closer. "Oh my gosh, you're one of Allison's friends. You must hate me...I just...I have a meeting with Mr. Finstock in about 5 minutes and I have no idea where I'm going and I didn't want to ask anyone because I was afraid they would recognize me and…."

Stiles chuckled softly as he held up his hand to stop her.

"It's alright. I get it. A Devenford student would probably be terrified inside Beacon Hills High during the day. I would probably feel the same if I was in your position," He reassured her. "I don't hate you. I have no reason to."

Lydia smiled softly before looking down at her watch.

"Okay, I have to meet Mr. Finstock like now. Do you think you could point me in the direction of the coach's office?"

Stiles looked at a clock and shrugged.

"Or I can just take you there myself." He suggested.

Lydia blushed slightly before crossing her arms.

"Don't you have class?" She asked skeptically. Stiles shrugged again.

"It's just physics." He replied.

Lydia laughed a little before smiling.

"Lead the way."

They began walking down the almost empty hallway and Stiles noticed that Lydia kept her head down so no one could see her face.

"You're fine. Even if people saw you, the only people that would really point you out and freak out is the cheer squad. And they like to get to class on time," Stiles said. "No need to hide that pretty face of yours."

Lydia blushed harder before lifting her head with relief.

"You're probably right." They were silent for a few seconds.

"What are you doing here, anyway? Shouldn't you be at school?" Stiles wondered aloud.

As they continued to walked together, Lydia giggled and looked at him with a sweet smile. Stiles thought she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen.

"We had a half day today. I got out of school at noon," Lydia told him. "I'm talking to Mr. Finstock about the dorm assignments for the classic in a couple weeks. Initially, the captain of the lacrosse team was supposed to come here, but apparently, they're spending the entire afternoon practicing. My mom made me come."

Stiles chuckled. "I'm glad you came instead of Brett."

Before they knew it, they had reached Coach's office. Now, they were just awkwardly standing in front of the door.

"So…"

"So…."

The bell suddenly rang, indicating that Stiles was now late for his next class.

"I gotta go, but-" Lydia giggled and waved for him to go.

"I'll see you soon, Stilinski."

Stiles left down the hall with a big grin. He turned around to see if Lydia was still standing there, but was slightly disappointed to see that she had gone inside the office.

It wasn't until Stiles sat down in his class with a late pass that he realized he had never told her his name.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: back with another chapter! please review! :)**

* * *

About three days after Stiles had personally met Lydia, he experienced the most stressful day of his entire life.

All hell broke loose.

The schedule as well as housing assignments for the classic was released. Normally, everything would have been fine.

Except this year, the usual school that Beacon Hills dorms with had to pull out of the camp because they didn't have enough funds.

"You can't be serious, Coach!" one boy yelled in the back. Other boys yelled in support as they looked up to their coach.

"I have absolutely no say in this! There is nothing I can do. Now you all stop being babies and suck it up! It's only a few days, they won't kill you...hopefully."

Scott arrived in the locker room eating half a PB&J sandwich. He was somewhat surprised by the scene of his angry teammates yelling and shouting at Coach Finstock, but thought nothing of it. He noticed that Stiles was sitting on a bench in the back of all the chaos and walked slowly to join him. As Scott sat down, he gave the other half of his sandwich to Stiles.

"What's going on?" Scott asked curiously, noticing that Kira and Isaac were amongst their other raged teammates.

"Coach, there is no way I can room with the twins. Come on, please!" They heard Isaac yelling in the midst of everything else.

Scott turned to Stiles with confusion and worry after hearing Isaac.

"The schedule and rooming assignments for the classic came out today. Obviously, they're more concerned about the rooming assignments," Stiles said nonchalantly. "We're in room 544."

"Stiles…" Scott trailed off, knowing that his best friend left the most important part out of that sentence. "Who are we rooming with?"

Stiles sighed deeply before turning to look at Scott with calm composure.

"Brett Talbot and Garrett Dye."

Scott's jaw dropped as he stood up from the bench and clenched his fists.

"WE'RE ROOMING WITH DEVENFORD PREP?" He exclaimed loudly. No one else heard him as they were all arguing and fighting with Coach.

"Yeah."

Scott was amazed that Stiles was not freaking out as much as everyone else was. He watched his best friend eat his sandwich in peace, staring at the locker in front of him.

"Stiles, how are you not upset about this? This is insane! There are going to be so many casualties as a result of this. I don't think I could even try to be civil with Brett. Or Garrett! He left our team, he-"

In that moment, Scott realized that Stiles must have known about this arrangement ahead of time. The fact that he was so calm and cool about it all told it all. Stiles would not have been okay about this if it was the first time he was hearing it.

"Okay, how did you find out about it before the team did?" Scott asked him seriously.

Stiles was silent as he finished the sandwich and got up from the bench. He slowly started to get ready for practice, putting on his gear and double checking his stick.

"Stiles!" Scott exclaimed.

Stiles groaned and shut his locker as he turned to face his teammates in frustration.

"Hey!" He shouted. No one heard him. "HEY! LISTEN UP."

The entire room went silent and everyone turned to look at Stiles in awe and shock. No one has ever heard him shout or yell like that before.

"Look, I know that we're all pretty upset by this news, okay? No one wants to spend extra time with the Devenford kids if we don't have to. But Washington High School dropped out, so we have no choice," Stiles explained. "Now, as co-captain, I am telling you all to gear up and get your asses out on that field because we are going to work like hell to destroy Devenford this year. We're going to give them something to be worried about at the classic."

The entire team looked to co-captain Stilinski in a new light. They immediately scrambled to their respective lockers and quickly put on their gear for practice. Coach Finstock nodded his head at Stiles with approval.

"Way to go, Stilinski." He muttered as he exited the locker room.

Scott stood his ground, watching Stiles as he tied his shoe and checked his stick and fixed his hair.

"Scott."

"Stiles."

"Scott, you should put on your gear."

"Stiles, you should tell me how you knew about the room assignments."

Stiles and Scott glared each other down for about a minute until they were the only ones left in the locker room. Stiles eventually caved in.

"Fine, I'll tell you as you get ready for practice. Win-win." Scott agreed as they walked over to his locker. Scott got his gear out and looked at Stiles expectantly.

"Well?" Stiles rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Lydia Martin was here a couple days ago." He stated, allowing room for Scott's confused expression.

"Here…?" Stiles nodded.

"Yeah, she was here, at Beacon Hills High, in our hallways. I ran into her right before 5th period on Tuesday. Well, I didn't run into her, I kind of approached her, but you know-"

"Okay...moving on…?" Scott chuckled, fixing up his stick. He noticed that this entire conversation was making his friend nervous.

"So, she needed to talk to Coach and she didn't know how to get to his office. I offered to take her there, even though I ended up being super late for physics," He continued. "She said she was here to talk to him about dorm assignments. At first, I didn't really understand why she would be here to talk about that. Then, at the end of the day, after I called the camp officials as Coach, it hit me and I put two and two together." Scott nodded in understanding.

"Washington was dropping out and that meant we had to dorm with another school...that makes sense," He said. "Why didn't you just tell me about the whole Lydia encounter? Why didn't you tell any of us?"

Stiles shrugged as Scott shut his locker.

"I don't know, I thought it would have been weird. Especially with all that happened between her and Allison at Rocky's. Everyone can tell that Ally is still super embarrassed about that," Stiles replied. "Plus, there's something interesting and special about her that I just didn't want to share yet."

Scott rolled his eyes.

"Please do not tell me you want to bang her."

Stiles chuckled and shook his head as they left the locker room.

"Nah, man. I mean she definitely is hot, but no, that's not it," Stiles told him. "She knew my name."

Scott raised an eyebrow at him.

"Seriously? That's what makes her interesting to you? She knew your name?"

Stiles laughed and shook his head with a small smile.

"It sounds crazy, yeah, but she knew my name even though I never told her or met her in my entire life," Stiles defended. "I never even mentioned it. I never introduced myself."

That caused Scott to actually think and the two boys were completely silent as they ran out onto the field.

Stiles was drying his hair as Scott and Isaac got dressed next to him. He slipped on his flannel shirt and grabbed his duffel bag. He waited for his friends to finish cleaning up before walking out the door.

"Well, I heard that some of the guys are thoroughly impressed with your new attitude in leading this team, Stiles." Isaac commented as their walked to their cars.

Stiles smirked and shook his head.

"I don't know. I guess I'm just determined to beat Devenford this year." He said.

"STILINSKI!" They heard Coach yell behind them. Scott and Isaac turned around briefly before continuing to walk through the parking lot. Stiles stopped in his tracks and half smiled at Coach.

"Yeah, Coach?"

"I liked that guy that was yelling in the locker room today. I hope I get to see him more often," Coach said with a smirk. "Anyways, I was hoping you could do me a favor. I can tell that you are taking your leadership of this team seriously."

Stiles simply nodded. He readjusted his bag on his shoulder.

"You know Liam Dunbar." Coach started. Stiles nodded hesitantly. "I can tell that he's been having a bit of a hard time with the team and his classmates at school. I want you to do something about it."

Stiles opened his mouth to protest, but Coach cut him off.

"I already took the liberty of making his new found best friend the manager of the team."

Stiles tilted his head to the right in confusion.

"I didn't know that the lacrosse team was looking for a manager."

"It wasn't." Coach told him. "Look, this must be really hard for Liam. Having to leave his friends, his team, and coming here to his former rivals and playing with them. He's really good, Stilinski. We need him on our side. Get him on our side."

Stiles sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"I'll try, Coach."

Coach smiled before stepping away.

"Thanks, Stilinski."

The following Monday during lunch, instead of sitting with his usual friends, Stiles walked passed them and sat next to the new sophomore that was on his lacrosse team.

"Hey Liam."

Liam looked up to see the unexpected lunch table intruder. He was more than surprised to see that it was one of his co-captains.

"Stilinski? Did you need something?"

Stiles laughed.

"Nah, I just wanted to sit here and get to know you," Stiles told him. He turned to the African American kid that was sitting next to Liam across the table from him. "You're Mason, right? The new manager of the lacrosse team?"

Yeah, Stiles did his research.

"Oh my God, yeah, I'm Mason. And let me tell you, it's an honor to be speaking with you right now, like seriously, you're like a legend around these halls, you're so-"

"Mason." Liam said, his jaw clenched.

Stiles smiled slightly before digging into his lunch.

"So, Liam-"

"Stiles, I know what you're trying to do, and while I appreciate it very much, I would just rather you leave me and my friend to eat alone in peace," Liam said bluntly. "You're a good captain for the team, and that's all I really want you to be for me. My lacrosse captain."

Stiles didn't even look the slightest phased. He simply leaned in closer to the sophomore.

"As much as I would like to take you up on your offer, I simply do not agree," He told him in the same tone. "Liam, the team is family. In order for it to function properly, you need to be cooperative, you need to be friends with us. Let us in. Let _me_ in."

Liam stared at Stiles for a long time, not breaking eye contact.

"Let me know when you're ready to break down your walls."

Stiles slipped him a small piece of paper. It had a phone number written on it.

He stood up from the table and walked to his friends.

Liam stared at the paper before grabbing it and placing it carefully in his pocket.

Stiles sat alone in a booth at Rocky's at 7pm that night. He was reading _The Medea_ and sipping on his favorite strawberry and chocolate milkshake.

He stayed there an hour longer than he usually does. He was hoping to have another run in with the well-known cheer captain of Devenford Prep's squad.

At 7:10pm, she walked through the door, heading straight for the order counter. She placed her order with Rocky and looked around the diner for a bit. She spotted Stiles instantly.

She sat down in the booth seat across from him and smiled gently.

"Hey. Nice to see you here...by yourself…" She said softly.

Stiles finally looked up and placed his book down. He grinned.

"Hi," He replied. "Yeah, I usually come here to study and do homework. With or without friends."

Lydia nodded.

"I get that. This is a nice place to just sit and do something."

Stiles stared at her with intriguing and wondering eyes. What was her story?

"You know, if you ever want to, you could come here and study with me," He suggested. "I usually come here right after lacrosse practice."

Lydia blushed and smiled at the offer.

"I'll think about it."

"Lydia, your order is ready." Rocky called, breaking up the conversation between the two of them.

Lydia got up reluctantly and took in a deep breath.

"Well, I got to go. My mom's waiting for this food." She giggled. Stiles nodded in understanding.

"Sure. I'll see you around."

Lydia paused for a second before turning around and grabbing the bag from Rocky. She exited the diner and left in her car.

Stiles waited a few minutes before gathering his things and getting up from his booth. Rocky gave him a knowing look as he left the diner.

Stiles wasn't denying it. He wasn't denying that he was waiting for her.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: hello hello! back again with another chapter! this one's pretty long so enjoy! next chapter will be up soon!**

 **reviewreviewreview!**

* * *

For rest of that week, Lydia came to study with Stiles at the diner. She would bring her Devenford books and homework and come straight from cheer practice. Lydia would ask for Stiles' help with most of her homework that she was confused by.

"So, that's the answer…?" Lydia asked hesitantly. Stiles nodded and leaned in a little closer to her to circle the answer.

"Yep."

Lydia looked at him and laughed, nodding slightly.

"Okay, let's take a break. My brain is fried." Lydia told him. He chuckled in pure agreement.

"Mine too," He said. "So, how was this wonderful Thursday for you?"

Lydia sighed and shrugged.

"Nothing special happened, really." She said quickly. She looked down to her biology notes and bit her lip.

Because in truth, it was a rather interesting day for her.

Lydia was, once again, asked out on a date by the lacrosse captain of Devenford Prep, Brett Talbot. Though she constantly rejected him, he kept pushing.

Today, he went a bit too far, causing her friends, Cora and Erica, to get into a heated fight for her. Just the thought of it made her cringe.

"Yeah, today was kind of boring." She said again. Stiles raised an eyebrow.

"That's what you said yesterday when I asked you how your day was," He told her. "Anyways, if you were wondering, my day was just as boring."

Lydia giggled as she took a fry from the basket in front of them.

"Do you want a milkshake? I'm going to get you a milkshake. What do you want?" Stiles asked her with a goofy smile. He always got so nervous around her.

"Um…" Lydia trailed off. "I mean, I really like the strawberry-"

"Strawberry it is!" He exclaimed happily, getting up from the booth. "Oh, Rocky!"

Stiles ran up to the counter with energy.

"One strawberry shake and a Stiles special, please!" He said giddily. He glanced back at their booth to see that Lydia was immersed in her biology book. "You keeping a lookout?" He asked quieter.

Rocky rolled his eyes as he made the shakes.

"Yes, Stiles, I'm keeping a lookout," He whispered just loud enough for Stiles to hear. "I haven't seen a single one of your friends today. And I'll let you know if that changes."

Rocky placed the two shakes on the counter and smiled slightly at the boy. Stiles sighed a breath of relief and took the delicious shakes in his hands.

"But you will need to tell them. They're going to find out eventually, aren't they?"

Stiles ignored the suggestion by walking away from the counter with shakes in hand. He grinned delightfully when he set the drinks down on the table. Lydia gave him a thankful smile before sipping hers.

"You got two texts from Allison, one text from Malia, and five texts from Scott while you were up there." She informed him, gesturing at his phone that has just lit up again.

Make that six texts from Scott.

Stiles hesitantly looked at his phone, staring at the missed messages from his friends. He flipped his phone on its side so he couldn't see the screen.

"They can wait," He said. "This is fun...studying and doing homework and drinking milkshakes...with you. I like this."

Lydia blushed and took another sip from her shake.

"I like this, too."

There was suddenly a silence between. The first silence that they've had all night.

"I haven't told my friends about us." Stiles suddenly blurted out. "I mean...I haven't told them that I've been hanging out with you."

Lydia nodded slowly, biting her lip.

"I haven't either."

"We should tell them….right?"

Lydia was quiet for a second before she shrugged. Then, her phone suddenly buzzed.

 _ **Liam** **Dunbar: 1 text message**_.

"You know Liam Dunbar?" Stiles asked with surprise. Lydia, startled, looked to Stiles with a similar expression.

"You know Liam Dunbar?" She wondered. "Oh. Duh, lacrosse."

Stiles nodded with affirmation.

"Yeah...so how are you friends with him?" Stiles questioned with curiosity. Yes, Liam went to Devenford and he was on the lacrosse team, but he didn't expect him to be friends with the cheer captain.

Lydia smiled to herself as she glanced to her phone.

"Liam's like my little brother. He comes around my house sometimes. His dad is pretty good friends with my mom."

Stiles laughed to himself with slight relief. Then he remembered what Coach told him.

"Get him on our side."

"You know, actually…" Stiles started. "I've been a bit worried for him lately. He's not fitting too well on the team for obvious reasons. I've tried to reach out to him…

"Let me know when you're ready to break down your walls."

"But, I haven't had the slightest bit of luck," He continued. "Maybe…?" Lydia nodded in understanding.

"Maybe I can try to talk to him," She finished. "Actually, you know, he's coming over for dinner tomorrow. Maybe you can come over too."

Stiles considered it in his head, but before he could answer, she started packing up her things.

"It's getting kind of late. My mom expected me home like an hour ago," She laughed. "This was fun. Let me know if you're coming over tomorrow night."

Lydia scurried out of the diner, hopped in her car, and drove away as Stiles began packing his things. He finally took the time to look at his messages from his friends.

 _ **Scott McCall (4:00pm)**_ : Your turn to order pizza tonight!

 _ **Scott McCall (4:10pm)**_ : Half cheese, half pepperoni, just like we like it.

 _ **Allison Argent (5:30pm)**_ : Hey, where are you? It's movie night, remember?

 _ **Scott McCall (5:35pm)**_ : Did you forget about ordering the pizza? Just text me when you're on your way. Drive safe, bro.

 _ **Malia Tate (6:20pm)**_ : Stilinski, I'm starving!

 _ **Scott McCall (6:30pm)**_ : I'm heading over to your house right now. Where are you? Are you okay?

 ** _Scott McCall (6:45pm)_** : You're not home. Dude, text me back asap, I'm getting worried.

 ** _Scott McCall (6:55pm)_** : Stiles.

Stiles facepalmed. He forgot about movie night. And it was his turn to order pizza. They were probably all pissed at him for forgetting. He immediately called Scott as he exited the diner.

It went to voicemail.

"Scott, man, I am so sorry, I completely forgot about movie night tonight. I was at the diner all night studying. It just didn't cross my mind, I'm sorry. Please call me back. So sorry for worrying you. Okay, bye."

Stiles got home from the diner and went straight for his room.

As he finished his homework, he began to worry. He hadn't heard a response from any of his friends in hours.

Finally, at 10pm, Stiles got a text from Allison.

 _ **Allison Argent (10:00pm)**_ : Hey. Sorry none of us got back to you, we were just finishing up the night. Also, Scott's just pissed that you forgot about movie night. Don't worry about it, I'm sure you had a good reason and it'll all blow over tomorrow. See you tomorrow, good night.

Stiles stared up at his ceiling with shame and disappointment in himself. He was sulking when his dad, the sheriff, came knocking into his room.

"Hey son," He started. "Scott stopped by the house earlier. Did he ever find you?"

Stiles sighed deeply and shook his head.

"Nope."

The sheriff sat on his son's bed and just watched him.

"Everything okay?"

Stiles sat up and stared at his floor. He waited a second before look at his father's face.

"Have you ever done something you know you shouldn't?"

The Sheriff shot a deadly look to his son.

"Is there something I should know about, Stiles?" He asked carefully.

Stiles rolled his eyes and laughed coldly.

"I just…" He took a deep breath. "Today, I screwed up. I missed weekly movie night with my friends, and I know they're mad at me. But…"

"But what?" HIs dad urged him to go on.

"But I had the most amazing time spending the night with this girl. And literally all we were doing was talking and studying and drinking milkshakes. I don't regret a minute of it."

HIs father had a knowing smile that Stiles had never seen before.

"I'm sure your friends would understand if you just told them." He suggested. Stiles immediately shook his head.

"I can't," He said. "Don't ask me why, but just believe me when I say I really can't."

The Sheriff didn't push any further but simply patted his son's back as he left his room.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out, Stiles. You always do."

Stiles watched his father leave the room and he closed his eyes. He fell asleep thinking of Lydia.

Scared of confrontation, he went straight for Liam and Mason's table at lunch the next day. He ignored the looks that his friends gave him as he sat at the sophomores' table.

"Hey." He said as he sat down. He started eating the food on this tray when he noticed that Liam and Mason were giving him weird looks. "What?"

"Stiles, what are you doing?" Liam asked skeptically.

Stiles sighed as he stopped eating. He allowed himself to finish chewing as he crossed his arms.

"I wanted to sit and eat lunch with my two favorite sophomores." He said innocently.

Mason laughed nervously as he stuffed his mouth with food. Liam gave him a death glare.

"Seriously. Why aren't you sitting with Scott and your friends?"

Stiles stared at Liam for a long time, just trying to think of an excuse to say to him. Maybe he could say that he was still pushing him to open up to him. Or maybe he could be honest and say that they were angry at him.

"I'm still trying to be your friend, Liam."

Liam looked at him with skepticism but continued to eat his lunch.

"So, how has your transition to Beacon Hills been?" Stiles asked, as he began to eat again.

Liam shrugged, looking to Mason.

"It's been okay. I'm still getting used to everything, I think. Everything is so different here compared to Devenford."

Stiles and Mason both nodded.

"How is it so different?" Mason asked with curiosity.

Liam sighed as he looked around the lunch room.

"I mean, not only are the buildings completely set up differently and the classes are structured a little differently, but I think it's just...more friendly here. People in different groups have no problem going up to talk to one another," Liam started. "At Devenford, everything seemed set. If you were a lacrosse player, there was no way in hell that you could be caught talking to the smartest kid in class without getting questioned."

Stiles found this a bit confusing, but nodded nonetheless.

"That sounds terrible." Mason commented.

Liam shrugged.

"It wasn't my favorite thing about Devenford, but I had gotten used to it. Now it's just different again and I have to get used to his whole thing Beacon Hills has got going on."

Stiles smiled sympathetically.

"If you ever need anything, you know I'm here for you," He reassured him. "And if anyone is giving you any shit, feel free to call me up. I'll give them a little talk." Stiles got up to go throw away his lunch. "You have my number. Use it."

Stiles waved a slight goodbye before getting up and walking out of the lunchroom, once again ignoring his friends. He felt his phone vibrate and pulled it out of his pocket. He had a text from an unknown number.

 _ **Unknown (12:13pm)**_ : Thanks. -Liam

Stiles smiled as he decided to text another person before putting his phone away.

 _ **Stiles Stilinski (12:15pm)**_ : Hey. I would actually really love to come over for dinner tonight if that's not a problem with you, your mom, or the Dunbars.

She didn't waste any time.

 _ **Lydia Martin (12:16pm)**_ : It's totally fine! These dinners are really chill. I'll text you my address…. Excited to see you. :)

Stiles smiled to himself again before proceeding to leave the lunchroom.

He didn't know why, but Stiles was nervous. He stood outside Lydia's house with two roses and a pie that he had picked up from the store. He anxiously looked down at what he was wearing just to make sure everything was in place.

He had called up Lydia some time during the afternoon, remembering that he had no idea what to wear.

 _"Lydia, I don't know what to wear tonight." He told her. Lydia giggled and sighed._

 _"Honestly, Stiles, just wear whatever you want to wear. These dinners aren't too fancy or anything. Just come as yourself." Stiles sighed._

 _"That doesn't help at all," He said. "I just don't want to look bad in front of Liam or Mr. Dunbar...or your mom…" Lydia let out a laugh._

 _"They're all really nice people, I promise," She told him with a smile. "I'm wearing one of my more casual dresses. If it helps, Liam usually wears jeans and a polo or something."_

 _Stiles sighed with content._

 _"It does. I know what I'm going to wear. I'll see you in a bit."_

He had decided to wear one of his nicer casual red striped polos. Stiles waited for a minute, hearing someone shuffle to the door and slight laugh.

It was Lydia who opened the door, looking beautiful as ever. She was wearing a blood red dress with small black dots around it. She smiled as she saw that it was Stiles at the door.

"Stiles!" She exclaimed, causing Liam to pop his head out of the kitchen.

"Stiles?" He asked curiously. Lydia snapped around to look at Liam.

"Stiles," She said again. She let him step into her home. "Oh my gosh, you did nothave to bring pie." At that, Liam ran towards Stiles and Lydia at the door.

"Pie?" He asked. Stiles gestured at the pie and grinned. Liam laughed enthusiastically. "Pie! I'm not really sure why you're here, but I'm glad you came, Stiles!" Liam took the pie from Stiles' hands and ran off towards the kitchen gleefully. "Oh, is this cherry? Yes!"

Lydia and Stiles watched the boy disappear past the corner. Lydia turned back to look at Stiles, who was reaching out to give her one of the roses.

"You are too sweet, Stiles Stilinski," Lydia said. "Come on. You can meet my mom and Mr. Dunbar."

Lydia led Stiles to the kitchen, where her mom and Liam's dad were talking and drinking some wine.

"Mom! Mr. Dunbar! This is Stiles Stilinski...we...uh, he goes to Beacon Hills High. He's co-captain for the lacrosse team."

Mr. Dunbar approached him with a smile and an extended hand, in which Stiles gratefully shook.

"Nice to meet you, son. You're on the team with my Liam then, yes?" Stiles nodded graciously.

"Yes, sir. Liam is one of the best players on the team, honestly. I'm very glad I've gotten the chance to get to know him." Liam's head snapped up to look at Stiles. At first, a look of shock was spread upon his face, but was soon replaced with a smile.

"Thanks, Stiles."

Stiles smiled at him and then turned to Ms. Martin as she walked towards him.

"Stiles, it is so nice to meet you. Lydia has talked about you quite a bit the past couple days."

Stiles noticed that Lydia had developed a slight blush on her cheeks as she looked away.

"The pleasure is all mine, Ms. Martin," He said. He held out the last rose for her. "This is for you." He added politely.

Lydia's mom took the rose with surprise and quickly filled a glass with water to put the rose in.

"Thank you. You are too kind, Stiles." Lydia saw her mom look at her with disbelief and a smile. "I like this one, Lydia."

Stiles smiled with content, knowing that he had successfully wooed both Ms. Martin and Mr. Dunbar.

Soon, they were all sitting around the dinner table, eating and having good conversation.

"Lydia, how has cheerleading been going?" Mr. Dunbar asked the redhead. Lydia finished chewing quickly before smiling at him.

"It's going pretty well! The girls are working very hard and I think we have a shot at the championships!" She exclaimed happily. For a second, she glanced at Stiles. "It is still going to be tough though. Beacon Hills' cheer team is one big competitor. I'm sure the classic will really help us prepare though."

Stiles smiled softly. Lydia Martin was too nice for her own good. She never had a bad thing to say about anyone, Stiles has come to realize that.

"How about you, Stiles? How's the lacrosse team looking?" Mr. Dunbar said, focusing on him now.

"It's been going okay," Stiles answers. "I think we have a lot of work to do if we ever want to beat Devenford, but with new guys like Liam on the team, we have a real shot."

Liam shrugged.

"Yeah. I really hope that the guys on the Devenford team don't give me too much crap though."

Stiles began to wonder why Liam decided to transfer to Beacon Hills in the first place. He remembered Lydia stating that Devenford was a private school, and it didn't matter what county or district you lived in. So why was Liam now attending Beacon Hills?

He thought it might be a bit of touchy subject for the dinner table, so he decided to wait until the meal was over to ask Lydia personally.

"I hope that the Beacon Hills students are treating you well, Liam," Ms. Martin interjected. "But, if they're all like Stiles, then I bet you're having no problem." She smiled brightly to her daughter's new friend.

Liam sighed.

"They're mostly all nice. A few of the guys on some of the other varsity teams give me glares sometimes, but I usually ignore it." Liam admitted. "The lacrosse team has been very nice though." He added, looking directly at Stiles.

"Well hey," Stiles commented. "Remember what I told you. If anyone does anything to hurt you or whatever, just hit me up. I'll have a little talk with them."

The entire table burst into laughter as Stiles finished his sentence. In midst of the laughter, Stiles looked over to Lydia to see that she was looking at him with soft, happy eyes. He smiled back at her.

When dinner was over, Ms. Martin, Mr. Dunbar, and Liam were all in the living room, continuing to talk about Liam's transition into Beacon Hills. Lydia had dragged Stiles to help her clean up the dishes.

"You really impressed them, Stiles," She told him quietly. "And while you came to get to know Liam a little better, I think this benefited everyone."

Stiles raised an eyebrow.

"How so?"

Lydia giggled softly as she looked towards the kitchen door.

"Liam and his father were so worried about transferring him here. Liam had some problems with another guy on the team...he beat him up. So, his dad thought that it would be a good idea to place him here, in Beacon HIlls. But even then, the Dunbars knew about that brewing rivalry between Devenford and Beacon Hills, and it worried Mr. Dunbar that some of the kids at school or on the lacrosse team would bully Liam.

Stiles looked at her intently.

"But now, I think it's obvious to my mom and Mr. Dunbar, people who care for Liam immensely, that Liam is a safe environment. And they know that by meeting you. I think that you really helped reassure them that Liam isn't having a terrible time at Beacon Hills. So thanks."

Stiles simply smiled and nodded, continuing to wash the dishes. Lydia stared at him for a moment longer than she knew she was supposed to before drying the dishes.

When it was time to go, Liam and Mr. Dunbar said goodbye to Lydia, her mother, and Stiles.

"I hope to see you again soon, Stiles. Maybe on the lacrosse field?" Mr. Dunbar commented as he exited the door.

"You betcha." Stiles responded, grinning back at Liam's dad. Then, Stiles turned to Ms. Martin and Lydia.

"I should probably get going too. I have some homework to catch up on." Stiles said politely.

"Oh, of course," Ms. Martin glanced between her daughter and Stiles. "Lydia, why don't you walk him to his car?" Lydia gave her mother a weird look but complied nonetheless.

"Okay…"

"It was nice to meet you, Ms. Martin!" Stiles exclaimed as he walked down Lydia's porch.

"You too, Stiles!" She answered with a smile. "Come back again, anytime!" With that, Lydia's mom disappeared from the front door, heading upstairs, Stiles assumed.

Lydia silently walked Stiles to his jeep. She looked down to the ground with a subtle smile on her face.

"I had a great time tonight." Stiles told her. Lydia looked up finally, and Stiles could really look at her eyes. She was so beautiful.

"I did too," Lydia told him. "I think everyone did. You were a nice addition to night. My mom like loves you now."

They both laughed at that.

They both looked into each other's eyes, neither really wanting this night to end.

"Lydia?" Stiles finally said.

"Yes, Stiles?" Lydia replied. His throat was tight and he swallowed.

"Do you remember the day we first met?" Stiles asked her. "Like really met?"

Lydia thought a little bit before finally looking back at him a knowing grin.

"That day at Beacon Hills? When I got lost?" The two laughed together again, looking back on that day.

"Yeah…" Stiles confirmed. "How did you know my name that day? My last name, even? I never told you what my name was."

Lydia stilled for a second, slowly processing what Stiles was asking her. She closed her eyes gently and sighed. She let out a laugh of slight embarrassment as she reopened her eyes.

"I didn't even realize that," Lydia told him truthfully. "I knew your name because I remembered your name from your jersey. Number 24, Stiles Stilinski."

Stiles smiled at her slightly red face.

"I didn't realize that you cheerleaders really paid attention to the game that much. Let alone the players of the other team." He commented.

Lydia shrugged.

"We don't, usually," She told him. "But there was something about you, Stiles. I always remembered you."

Stiles stared at her for a second, taking a moment to completely comprehend what she was saying to him.

She knew him. She remembered him. She paid attention to him.

That's what she was saying.

Stiles stared at her for a minute, really taking it in. A gorgeous girl was standing in front of him, telling him that she noticed him.

Stiles moved a little closer to her and took her hand.

They're so close. Her face is so close to his as she looks up at him with her beautiful green eyes.

"Can I kiss you?" He asked softly as he inched his face a little closer to hers. She let out a small giggle, never taking her eyes off him.

"Please."

Stiles kept leaning down to meet her lips. His lips brushed over hers, but he quickly pulled away at the sound of his phone.

He cursed the sky and took out his phone. He sighed as he texted out a quick response to his father, who was wondering why he hasn't gotten home yet.

"It's my dad. I never mentioned I was going to this, so he's wondering where I am," He told her regretfully. "He says Scott's there, so I should probably get going."

Lydia flashed him a small smile as she nodded with understanding.

"Of course." Stiles grabbed the handle of his car door, but then turned around to look at Lydia once more.

"I really did have fun tonight," He said. "And I plan to get that kiss sooner than later." He comments as he gets into the car.

Lydia laughs.

"I'm not opposed."

Stiles started the jeep and waved as he begins to drive away from the Martin residence.

Lydia waved back until he disappeared into the night. She stared at her feet for a second with a silly grin that won't go away. She looked back down the road that Stiles just drove off on and smiled silently before walking back into her house.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hello! I'm sorry for the late update!**

 **But I am going to just let all my loyal readers know that I am currently off of break and back on school mode, so the updates may not come as quickly (I gotta get that degree!). Luckily for you though, I have the next few chapters already written so it's just a matter of me publishing them.**

 **Thank you for all the reviews and love! You guys rock!**

* * *

Stiles arrived home in a record time of ten minutes and walked through the door, immediately spotting his father and his best friend sitting at the kitchen counter.

"Hey son," the sheriff greeted. "Where were you?"

Stiles shrugged casually.

"I was...having dinner with the Dunbars," He told his dad, walking over to them. "You know, Liam Dunbar. The transfer sophomore that made it onto varsity. Coach told me to try and befriend him, so he invited me to his house for dinner. Sorry, I forgot to mention it."

His dad nodded nonchalantly.

"Well, Scott's been here awhile, waiting to talk to you, so I'll leave you two alone." He said as he made his way upstairs.

Scott and Stiles sat in silence as Stiles' father closed his bedroom door. Stiles got up from his seat and moved towards the fridge.

"Do you want anything-"

"I'm sorry for getting pissed," Scott cut him off. "I don't know what it was. I think it was a combination of me being worried that we didn't hear from you in hours and upset that you forgot about our weekly movie night, but I'm really sorry that I got that way. You probably had a good reason for forgetting, right?"

Stiles had flashback to last night, sitting in the diner with Lydia.

" _They can wait."_

"I, uh...I was just very stressed about school and lacrosse," He lied. "I have an exam coming up and, I don't know, I've been feeling a lot of pressure to win lately with lacrosse."

Scott nodded sympathetically as Stiles took his seat again.

"I figured. It's not like you to completely space out," He commented. "You must have been really focused."

Stiles slowly nodded his head in agreement as he fidgeted with his hands.

"I'm... sorry too…" He said further. "I really shouldn't have forgotten. Movie night is our thing. We started it."

Scott smiled gently at his best friend and got up to give him a hug.

"It's okay. I think we're all allowed to miss movie night at least once," He comforted. He pulled away and hit Stiles on the shoulder. "So does this mean that you're going to sit with us at lunch instead of with Dunbar?"

Stiles laughed as he punched Scott back.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I was just trying to be his friend and teammate I guess, like Coach was telling me to. I think I really made progress tonight though at dinner."

Scott smiled with content and sat back down in his chair.

"That's good, man. We really need to get Dunbar on our side."

There was silence between the two boys and they sat and thought about lacrosse.

"The classic's coming up fairly soon. It's in like two weeks." Stiles remembered as he stared at the calendar hanging up in his kitchen.

Scott put his hands in his pocket and took out his phone.

"Yeah. I didn't realize it. We really need to step it up if we're going to we want even a chance of beating Devenford." Scott sighed as he checked through his texts. "Oh, I should go. My mom was expecting me home a couple minutes ago."

Stiles chuckled as they both got up. He slapped a hand on his shoulder as he walked him to the door.

"I'm glad we had this talk." He said as Scott opened the door.

Scott stopped outside and turned around to face the door.

"Me too." He replied. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Stiles watched as Scott ran to his motorcycle and waved to him as he was putting his helmet on. His eyes followed Scott until it disappeared along the road. He closed their front door and turned around to see his dad standing there.

"You lied to him." He said briefly as he crossed his arms at his son.

Stiles simply rolled his eyes.

"I can't tell them. Not just yet."

The sheriff sighed, following Stiles to the kitchen counter.

"Why not?" He asked his son. "It's _Scott_. Your best friend since diapers. You tell him everything."

Stiles groaned as he placed his elbows on the table. He paused for a second and thought for a moment.

"The girl that I've been hanging out with lately…" He looked up to see his father's expectant eyes. "Her name is Lydia Martin. Her mom is the principal of Devenford Prep and she's the head cheerleader of the cheer squad there."

The sheriff suddenly realized why Stiles couldn't just tell his friends about this girl. Though he never thought that his friends would hate him for it, he had no idea what they would do.

"I don't know what to do or if I should tell them," Stiles explained. "Well, okay, I'm definitely going to tell them at some point, but I just don't know how they'll react. I'm not worried about Scott because I'm sure he'll be happy for me, but...Allison and Malia? They _hate_ Lydia because Devenford wins every year."

Stiles' dad slowly nodded his head, suddenly understanding the predicament.

It was silent in the house.

Stiles looked up at his dad, seeing that he was staring at him. The sheriff wasn't saying anything at all. He was just looking at his son, watching him clasp and unclasp his hands over and over.

"When did you know that you were in love with mom?"

His father looked away to look at the picture of their family that was hanging up in the living room. He stared at it for a long time before shifting back to his son.

"'Young men's love lies not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.'" He finally said. Stiles' head lifted slightly and he raised his eyebrows.

"Did you just quote _Romeo and Juliet_?" He asked with amusement. The sheriff let out a chuckle as he nodded his head.

"Your mother loved reading that play when we were in high school," he told him. "When I first asked her out, I memorized lines from the play. I could quote half of it without looking at anything." He said, laughing to himself. "But the minute I saw your mother, I knew that I wanted to love her. She was the girl I wanted in my life."

Stiles smiled to himself as he watched his dad tell more stories about his romance with his mom. He realized that was something he wanted with someone. He hoped to love someone as much as his dad loved his mom.

"Do you think you love her?" The sheriff asked Stiles.

Stiles froze for a second. He definitely liked her. He really, really liked her.

But did he love her?

"I think it may be too soon to say," He finally said, settling on that answer. "I know I really like being around her. And I just want to be around her all the freaking time, Dad. When I'm with her, I can't breathe. But when I'm away from her, she's all I can think about."

The sheriff nodded in understanding.

"I think it's normal for you to feel that way," He said. "I'm not going to tell you what you're feeling right now, because I think it's different for everyone. But all I'm going to say is that you should act on your feelings. Do not hold back. Because I swear, if you hold back, you're going to regret it, Stiles. And that's the worst thing you can do."

Stiles kept switching his glance between his father and the countertop.

"I love you, son. Eventually, this will all work itself out."

The sheriff got up, giving one last smile to Stiles before trudging up the stairs tiredly and retreating to his room.

Stiles sat in the kitchen for a minute more before turning off the lights downstairs and moving to his room for the night.

He fell asleep thinking of Lydia. Again.

It had been a few days of not seeing Lydia. He was getting a bit worried because it seemed that she completely dropped off the face of the earth, but he didn't want to come off as too clingy or annoying, so he just tried to not think about it. He finally saw her again as she showed up with her books to study with Stiles at Rocky's.

"Hey," Her beautiful voice spoke out of nowhere. Stiles jumped slightly as he looked up to meet her eyes. "Is this seat taken?"

Stiles chuckled lightly. No one else but Lydia herself has taken that seat in weeks.

"Of course not," He replied. "Need help with biology today?"

Lydia shrugged as she placed her books on the table and sat down across from Stiles.

"Yeah..and maybe a little chemistry?" She asked with sheepish smile.

Stiles just laughed and nodded.

"Works for me."

Lydia smiled as she grabbed her wallet out of her bag and placed her phone on the table.

"I'm going to go order us shakes and fries on me today." Lydia told him gleefully as she walked to the counter.

Stiles watched as she placed the order with Rocky and made small conversation with him. He honestly just liked to watch her, as creepy as that sounds. He turned around back to his book, but his eyes shifted to gaze at Lydia's phone which was blowing up.

It wasn't any of his business to be looking at who she was talking to but a particular name stuck out to him as he glanced at who was texting her.

 _ **Liam Dunbar: 1 text message**_

 _ **Cora Hale: 3 text messages**_

 _ **Erica Reyes: 2 text messages**_

 _ **Brett Talbot: 7 text messages**_

Brett Talbot? Why was Brett insanely texting Lydia? Were they friends? Were they dating?

Stiles facepalmed as he realized he didn't even think about the possibility of Lydia not even being romantically available. She probably had a boyfriend, and Brett Talbot was probably it.

Lydia came back with their usual shakes and a plate of fries. She sat down in her side of the booth, taking a few fries from the plate and shoving them in her mouth without much care. She began opening her books and occasionally would glance over at Stiles with a smile.

"Sorry I've been MIA for the past couple days," Lydia started out as she pulled out her notebook and calculator from her bag. "I've been really focused on cheer. One of our girls is on academic probation, so I've been teaching our back up the moves so that she's ready. It's all that I've been thinking about lately."

You're all that I've thinking about lately, Stiles thought to himself. He gave her a simple smile before nodding in understanding.

"No big deal," He answered as they both watched her phone light up at a notification of yet another text from Brett. "I assumed you were busy. You got a lot going on."

He didn't miss Lydia's eyeroll as she picked up her phone and starting reading. She quickly typed out a response before passive aggressively throwing her phone in her bag. Stiles raised one eyebrow as Lydia flipped through her book.

"Something bothering your?" He wondered with concern.

Lydia sighed loudly as she finally looked up at Stiles to meet his eyes.

"It's not a big thing," She reassured. "It's just Brett Talbot, you must know him, he's always been very...persistent in asking me out. But I've never been too interested in him so I always turn him down. Well, lately, it's been a bit annoying, and almost obsessive how much he has been asking me to go out with him. He texts me constantly, listing all these reasons why he and I would just great together and that everyone at Devenford wants us to get together, but...I just...It's just really annoying."

Stiles gave her a look of sympathy as he grabbed her hand across the table.

"Brett's a dick," Was all that came out of his mouth. Lydia used her other hand to cover her mouth that almost exploded with laughter, but kept her other hand in contact with Stiles'. He began rubbing circles into the back of her hand as she sighed with content.

"I know he is," Lydia affirmed. "He thinks he's great. But I don't really like guys who think they're all that. I try to ignore him, but lately it's been getting really hard. My friend Erica is trying to convince me to talk to my mom to get a restraining order."

Stiles shot her a look of surprise.

"A restraining order?"

Lydia nodded.

"Yeah, I know. It's really big. And I don't think it has to be that big of a deal," She told him. "But Erica says that she's sometimes worried to leave me alone because of this whole Brett situation. She's worried that one day he's just going to lash out if I keep saying no, which in retrospect, is rather scary."

Stiles continued to comfortably rub her hand.

"I think you could take him." He joked. Lydia laughed briefly as she stared at their connected hands.

"I just...I don't know what to do." She admitted. There was silence between them before Lydia regretfully pulled her hand away from Stiles' to continue flipping through her chemistry book. "Okay, so I really don't understand Hess' Law."

Stiles stared at her for a second more before smirking and taking the book and reading it over.

"So basically, you take this…"

About three hours later, Lydia seemed to be picking up chemistry a little better than before. She checked the time and sighed.

"I have to go. We have a cheer get together today at my house," She told him, rolling her eyes. "I have to go get the place ready. Thank you for today. You really helped me out, as usual."

He just smiled and nodded, watching her pack up her stuff.

"No problem," He said. "I live for these days."

Lydia laughed and blushed as she slung her backpack on her back.

"I'll see you tomorrow, maybe?" She asked uncertainly as she started walking away.

Stiles widened his eyes before whipping around to completely face her.

"Um, not tomorrow!" He exclaimed, rushed. "Tomorrow I'm going to be here...with my friends."

Lydia looked down as she nodded in understanding. Her face glinted with a hint of disappointment, and it hurt Stiles.

"Of course! I'll see you around, then." She said almost defeatedly as she walked out of the diner.

Stiles sighed deeply as he facepalmed. He was such an idiot; she was obviously hurt by what he said.

The next day, all Stiles could think about was Lydia and her disappointed expression from the night before. He hated that he was keeping her a secret from his friends, but he didn't want to tell them yet. He wanted to wait until he and Lydia defined whatever they had. He also needed to know how Allison and Malia felt about Lydia. Last time he checked, they were not on very good terms.

"What do I think about Lydia Martin?" Allison asked with a skeptical expression at the lunch table. "That's such a weird question for _you_ to ask, Stiles. Why do you care?"

Stiles tried to keep his cool and tried to hide his nervousness.

"Uh, I don't know. Just making conversation, I guess? The classic is coming, right? You guys have probably been working really hard with your...cheering..things?" He spat out. He mentally slapped himself for the incoherence of his sentence, but Allison or Malia didn't seem to care.

Allison and Malia shared a look before shrugging.

"Well, we hated Lydia like a week ago," Malia said. "Well, at least Ally did. And somehow, we think we might always have a little bit of a dislike for her. She's too perfect. She's too nice and peppy-"

"Isn't that what a cheerleader should-?" Isaac interrupted.

"Shut up, Isaac," Malia responded to her boyfriend's unsolicited comment. "Anyways, I don't think she's too bad. I think I'm just jealous of how well she leads her squad. They're like almost perfect."

Stiles nodded with interest, leaning forward while talking to his friends.

"Well, have you ever thought of maybe, I don't know, trying to be friends with her?" He suggested. He had thought of this last night when he couldn't fall asleep. He wanted to try and get his friends to become friends with Lydia. Maybe then, when Stiles eventually brings up his relationship- or whatever- with her, his friends would take it a little easier. "I don't know, she seems to know a lot about cheerleading, right? Maybe you could get some tips from her? We now know she lives in Beacon Hills so it shouldn't be too hard to meet up with her."

Allison rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Stiles, because the cheer captain of our rival school would just willingly give us tips and tricks on how to make our team better for a competition they will be competing in." She scoffed. "Good one."

"Plus, I think she kind of messed up any good friendship with Lydia after what happened at Rocky's that one day." Isaac commented again.

Malia sighed as she hit her boyfriend while giving a sympathetic look to Allison and nodded.

"Speaking of Rocky's," Scott interjected, changing the subject. "We're getting ice cream today after lacrosse and cheer practice, right?"

The entire table nodded or remarked in affirmation just as the bell rang, signaling the period to be over.

As Stiles was getting up from the table, he noticed Liam's worried face gesturing him to come towards him. Stiles raised an eyebrow as he waved to his friends and walked towards the boy.

"Liam, what's up?"

Liam gave him a worried look as he looked down at his phone again.

"Have you talked to Lydia lately?" He asked with concern. "I...She hasn't been responding to my texts at all today, and I'm getting worried."

Stiles was confused.

"Why are you so worried?" He wondered. "Isn't she in class now?"

Liam sighed and shook his head.

"Yes, usually, maybe but last night…" He tried to calm himself down to speak. "Last night, my ex-girlfriend who's on the cheer squad at Devenford texted me. That's saying alot since she hasn't spoken to me since we broke up. But she told me that at their cheer meeting last night, Brett showed up.

Stiles eyes widened. Liam could tell that he knew all about that situation as he watched Stiles' fist clench.

"She told me that he was getting very aggressive, more so than he's ever been. Lydia's mom had to get involved. It was really bad," He continued. "Anyways, I've been texting with my friend from Devenford, and he said that no one's seen Lydia all day. I don't think she went to school today. I'm just really worried."

Stiles tried to keep himself calm as he ran his fingers through his hair. He looked around and saw that the next lunch period was already piling into the cafeteria. He gestured towards the exit and the two walked out of the lunch room, heading in now general direction.

"Okay," He said, after finally figuring out what he wanted to do. "I'm gonna go stop by Lydia's house. I'm just going to check up on her, see how she is. I'm going to be back in time for lacrosse though because Coach will kill me if I'm not at practice. Does that sounds good?"

Liam nodded meekly as the warning bell rang.

"Okay...okay. I'm going to head to class," Liam said as he started to walk away. "Thanks for doing this, Stiles. It means a lot to me. I can tell you really care for her."

He then broke into a sprint as he tried to get to his next class before the last bell. Stiles sighed deeply as he looked around before exiting the building at the nearest exit.

Stiles arrived at Lydia's in less than ten minutes. He parked his jeep outside on the street and quickly made his way to her porch. He rang the doorbell and awaited an answer.

There was a long period of silence. Stiles wasn't sure if Lydia was contemplating just not opening the door or if she was actually at school. Her car wasn't in the driveway. Then, he heard the sound of the door getting unlocked.

Lydia stood in front of him in sweatpants and a sweatshirt and no makeup. Even then, she still looked beautiful as ever.

"Stiles?" She said with a confused expression. She let him in quickly. He didn't miss the fact that she peered down both ends of the street before shutting the door swiftly.

"Your car isn't in your driveway." Stiles said simply as she locked the door and looked up at him.

"Yeah, it's in the garage," She replied. "What are you doing here? Don't you have school?"

Stiles shrugged.

"Yeah," He said. "But Liam was really worried about you. You weren't answering his texts, so I told him I'd come see if you were okay."

Lydia stood in silence with her arms crossed. She looked down at the ground.

"Does he know?" She asked softly. "Do _you_ know?"

Stiles hesitated before he nodded. There was an awkward silence in the air as neither of them knew what to say. Stiles was never good at comforting people, and he certainly did not know what to do in this kind of situation.

"Do you want to come upstairs?" She offered quietly. "I'm still kind of tired. I couldn't sleep last night."

Stiles simply nodded as she began to lead him upstairs towards her room. Stiles observed the pictures on the walls and how nice her home was. Finally, they reached Lydia's room, and she went straight into her bed. Stiles awkwardly stood there, rubbing his hand against the back of his neck. Lydia looked at him expectantly, patting the right side of her bed. Stiles slowly and hesitantly made his way to the bed. He gently got under the covers, and Lydia immediately grabbed onto him, hugging his torso.

He let out a sigh of nervousness as she got comfortable with him. The room was silent.

"What did he do?" Stiles finally asked, breaking the silence. "Or say. What happened, Lydia? You seem really distraught by all of this."

Lydia was quiet for a moment, but Stiles just waited. He knew that all she needed was time. She finally took a deep breath and exhaled before speaking.

"He unexpectedly came by last night while the cheerleaders were over. I went outside to talk to him by myself because I thought I could handle it. I just needed to tell him to go away and back off, like how I've been texting him.

"But it's so much harder when you do it in person. He was staring at me so intensely, so angrily, that I crumbled. When I tried to defend myself and tried to get him to leave, he just kept yelling at me. It was really scary. At some point, I knew that the girls were watching, but it was like no one else was there and I couldn't escape from him. He kept telling me that no one would be better for me than him and that this shouldn't be so difficult.

"He kept telling me that he was the only one for me and I was the only one for him and that we were meant to be and… that he loves me. But how can he love me, Stiles? He doesn't even know me. I told him that, and he got really angry. He started yelling things at me again, saying stuff like how he would make sure that no one else at Devenford would be able to date me if I rejected him. He told me that he would always go after me, he would keep coming after me and bothering me until I said yes and that he wasn't going anywhere. He threatened me, saying that he knew my class schedule, he knew my license plate number, he knew where I hung out and who I hung out with, he obviously knows where I live…

Stiles felt Lydia sniffle. He began combing her hair with his fingers and rubbing her hand soothingly.

"Eventually, my mom came outside and told him that he needed to leave or she was going to call the police...well, your dad. That's when he left. I was too distracted to continue our cheer get together when I came back inside, so I just sent them home and cancelled practice today. My mom said it was okay that I didn't go to school. She wanted to stay home, but I told her it would be too suspicious if she didn't go to work. I tried to make it look like no one was home, which is why my car is in the garage.

Stiles continued to play with her hair.

"I couldn't sleep at all. I kept thinking that I was going to wake up and he would just be here watching me...I'm really scared, Stiles."

Stiles wasn't sure what to say as he silently nodded to himself, stunned by this information. He sighed as Lydia looked up to him with slightly wet eyes and a single tear falling down her cheek. Stiles quickly wiped it away as he stared into her eyes.

"I…" He wasn't sure what to say to her. "I...I'm here for you." He gently wiped away the tear from her face as he smiled softly.

Lydia smiled at him. Neither of them realized how close their faces were to each other. Or how they were both inching closer.

Finally, Stiles watched as Lydia closed her eyes. He gently grabbed the back of her head as he connected her lips with his. Lydia's hand moved to his chest as she deepened the kiss. Stiles couldn't stop thinking about how soft her lips were. He felt Lydia smile into the kiss as she pulled away slightly to look at him and laugh before kissing him again.

Stiles sighed into the second kiss, moving his arm to wrap around her waist and pull her closer to him. She placed her hands on his cheeks and cupped his face to get him closer. They kissed until they ran out of breath. Lydia pulled away again, resting her head on Stiles' chest.

"I really like you." He finally blurted out. Lydia propped her head up from his chest to stare at him with a silly smile. He grinned in return as he realized his confession.

Lydia gave him a peck on the lips before placing her head back on his chest.

"I like you too, dummy."

Stiles smiled to himself as she made herself comfortable. He pulled out his phone to text Liam and check the time.

 _Stiles Stilinski (1:04pm): Lydia's okay. She's at home, and I'm going to stay with her until lacrosse. See you at practice._

 _Liam Dunbar (1:07pm): Thanks, Stiles._

Lydia and Stiles stay like that for the rest of the afternoon. Lydia drifted in and out of sleep. While she was awake, the two would just talk about random things and occasionally steal a kiss or two. When it came to 3 o'clock, Stiles had to leave to get back to school in time for lacrosse practice.

"Lydia." He gently shook her awake. "Lydia."

She awoke with a smile on her face and kissed him again. He'll never get tired of it.

"Do you need to go to lacrosse?" She asked sleepily. He nodded.

"Yeah, Coach will kill me if I'm not there today," He told her regretfully. Come on, show me out. I want you to lock the door as I leave."

Lydia nodded in agreement as they both unwillingly got up from her bed.

"I can try to get out of getting ice cream with my friends today after practice," He said. "I can bring you Rocky's."

Lydia seemed to really like that idea.

Lydia and Stiles just stood in front of her door for a second before Stiles remembered he had somewhere to be. He placed a quick, chaste kiss on her lips before running to his jeep and waving as he drove away.

Lydia smiled with content as she went back inside and locked her door.

Stiles had arrived relatively on time, receiving weird looks from Scott and Isaac and a knowing, thankful look from Liam.

After practice, as they exited the field, Stiles made up an excuse to get himself out of hanging out with his friends. He wanted to see, and kiss, Lydia again.

"So, you're coming to Rocky's with us, but you're not staying?" Malia repeated. Stiles nodded in affirmation. "Lame."

Stiles shrugged it off and it didn't seem to bother his friends too much.

"I'm just going to bring food to my dad. Then, I really need to do some catching up on my history."

They didn't suspect anything wrong with his excuse, but Scott seemed to be a little suspicious about it all.

When they got to Rocky's, Stiles, ordered himself a chocolate shake and a cheeseburger, while also subtly ordering the Martin's usual.

"You're bringing it over to the Martin's now, huh?" Rocky quietly commented with a smirk. "You two are getting pretty serious."

Stiles rolled his eyes as he watched Rocky set down the shakes.

"Yeah, we are," He confirmed. "But-"

"You haven't told your friends yet, I'm assuming." Rocky said. Stiles nodded and bit his lip.

"Yeah." He said as he watched his friends laugh in their usual booth. Scott caught his eye and smiled at him. Stiles gave him a grin back.

After a few minutes, Rocky finished Stiles' order and handed it to him. Stiles gave a slight gesture of departure to his friends as he exited the diner.

He didn't notice Scott follow him outside.

Scott had followed him all the way to Lydia's and confirmed that Stiles was not, in fact, bringing food to the sheriff. He watched as rang the doorbell and a familiar redhead answered the door and let him and the food from the diner in. Scott waited for a couple minutes to see if Stiles would come back outside and maybe actually head to his dad's station.

But he never did.

While Scott was confused as to why Stiles was hanging out with Lydia Martin, he also ignored the pang of hurt he felt when he texted Stiles hours later asking how the station was and how Stiles just lied like nothing.

He was sure Stiles had a reason. He always did.

Scott told himself that he would bring it all up to his best friend when the time was right.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: and I'm back already! I was going through my doc for this story and saw that I had already finished this chapter so I decided to post it. It is significantly shorter than the other chapters, so I apologize.**

 **Unfortunately, I have not finished the next chapter and do not know when I will be able to finish/publish it as I have already mentioned, I am back at school! I need to get that degree ya feel? Anyways, I will try my best to update as soon as possible, but please don't be too disappointed if it doesn't come for a while.**

 **You guys are the best!**

* * *

Apparently, the right time for Scott still hadn't come a week later while the lacrosse team was intensely preparing for the classic that was to take place in exactly a week.

Scott had noticed that Stiles seemed a little stressed and preoccupied. Which made sense considering he was juggling school work, spending time with their friends, leading the lacrosse team but also keeping up a secret relationship with a new girlfriend, which he hasn't told anyone about. He didn't want to confront him about his deceit and lies in midst of all this.

In truth, Stiles and Lydia still hadn't talked about what they were; they hadn't officially defined their relationship. Were they dating? Was she his girlfriend? He had no idea.

Maybe it wasn't the best idea to start something up during the most stressful couple weeks for both of their schools. The classic was fast approaching and while Lydia and Stiles didn't have a problem finding time to spend with each other, they were both very concerned and stressed about the classic.

One Saturday morning, Stiles was over at Lydia's, and they were sitting on her bed. Lydia had placed her laptop on his lap and made him watch a recording her newest cheer routine that she had come up with for the classic. She placed her head on his chest and watched with him.

"What do you think?" She asked as the video ended. Stiles nodded as he played back some parts.

"I like it," He told her with a smile. "It's very original and different. The music is very different too, nothing like I've ever seen at the classic. Your girls also seem to be in frighteningly perfect time. Seriously, it's insane. How do you get it to be that perfect?"

Lydia giggled slightly as she pointed at a specific move done by a particular girl on the video.

"That move took that girl almost 2 weeks to learn," She said. "Her name is Hailey. She has clinical depression, so sometimes it's really hard for her to get out of the house and get to school, even. One week, she just stopped coming to practice because she thought that I was going to kick her off the squad anyway.

Stiles observed Lydia as she watched her cheer squad perform the routine again.

"I didn't," She said simply. "I understood that she was having problems...and I didn't want to punish her for that. I personally helped her learn the routine by coming to her house when she couldn't make it to practice, and soon enough, when she did come to practice, she got it right. Every time.

She sighed as she looked at her phone screen, which was a picture of all the girls together.

"I know all their problems. And I try to cater their needs to fit for each problem. One girl is having trouble sleeping because her parents are fighting. This other girl is having trouble keeping up with her classes. Another has to work a job to help her family pay for expense," She told him in confidence. "We all live hard lives. I get that. So I help them practice the routine individually as best as I can, and somehow when we come together, it all fits. And they all do their part."

Stiles looked at her with amazement. This girl was amazing.

"How do you do it?" He wondered again with a smile. "How do you get them to practice so much and make them get it right every time?"

Lydia paused for a minute, sitting up to properly face Stiles.

"Do you ever get that feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction on the lacrosse field when your team finally does something right? And you do it together?"

Stiles nodded, leaning forward to listen to her.

"All the time. It's a great feeling."

Lydia smiled and nodded along with him.

"Yeah. I love that feeling," She said. "I tell my girls just how much I love that feeling every time I get it. I tell them that it's working as a team and getting that feeling that makes me love cheerleading. I tell them that it's cheerleading and working with them that makes me forget about my own problems. And some days I think it inspires them. For a lot of these girls, I am one of their best friends and I am always there to help and listen with whatever they need. When they ask what they can do in return, I just tell them to make it up to me on the floor, when all eyes are on us and we're competing to win.

"And they don't disappoint. I think the things I do for them affects them so much that they want to win for me. They become so determined to win. They want it so bad," She explained. "And when you want something so bad, you'll do anything to get it. You'll practice as hard and as long as it takes to get something right, and you won't hate it. You'll get that this is what you need to do to get what you want."

Stiles smiles at her contently and she smiles back at him. She loves it when he has that smile and when it's directed at her.

"That's how you win." She finished.

Stiles put her laptop aside and grabbed her waist, bringing her closer.

"You're amazing." He said quickly before pressing his lips to hers. It was quick and sweet, but they both loved it.

Stiles finally understood how Devenford's cheer squad was so good. While there were many factors that played into it, it all came back to Lydia. She was an inspiring, caring leader for the squad, and ultimately, that was what brought them together. She cared for every single person on her team and helped them personally with what they needed, in both cheerleading and life.

They had a week until the classic, and Stiles still felt unsatisfied with how Beacon Hills' team was working and playing. He suddenly felt a wave of inspiration. Though he wasn't sure how well Lydia's leadership tactic would work with a group of high school boys, he was willing to try.

That night, he called for an emergency lacrosse team meeting on the field at school. The boys were a bit confused as to why they were being summoned on their day off, but didn't argue. Nobody argued with Stiles anymore.

"OKAY!" He exclaimed to get their attention. Finally, they were all silent and listened to their co-captains. "I know you're probably wondering why you're here. I know you have today off. But we officially have one week until the classic. And I don't know about you guys but I'm sick of being thrown on our asses by Devenford every year.

Stiles heard the sound of his teammates' agreement and the nodding of their heads.

"This year, we're going to change that. Coach said that Beacon Hills hasn't beat Devenford in over ten years, but we're changing that. We're going to beat Devenford and on top of that, we're going to win the classic."

Scott looked at Stiles with a surprised look that was accompanied by doubtful comments and shocked expressions. Stiles rolled his eyes.

"Stilinski, while it's hopeful to think that we can beat Devenford, there are also a bunch of other teams that we would have to crush to even get a chance to win the entire classic." One of the guys, Danny, said. Many of his teammates agreed with him. "We don't stand a chance."

Stiles shook his head. He was so determined to win this classic and he had no idea why.

But it suddenly occurred to him why.

He was so angry at everything Brett was putting on Lydia. He wanted Brett to leave her alone.

And maybe that's why he was so determined to beat Devenford. And maybe winning the entire classic would just be the icing on the cake.

And maybe he loved her.

"Stop thinking like that," Stiles said, crossing his arms. "All of you. I don't want your doubtful looks. We can do it. You all just need to believe in yourselves. I want the best practices that we have ever seen in the history of Beacon Hills lacrosse this week.."

He paused.

"I want you to text me your biggest weakness on the field tomorrow," he said, ignoring the confused exchanges between the team. "Yeah, you heard me. Text me your biggest weakness when it comes to lacrosse. Scott and I are going to help you fix that as much as we can in a week."

Stiles looked at Scott expectantly.

"Uh, yeah. We're going to help you." Scott spit out.

Stiles turned back to the rest of the team.

"Today, you check all your negative thoughts and attitudes about this team at the door. This week, we are working our asses off. And we're going to win the classic," He told them. "You need to find the thing that makes you love lacrosse...the thing that makes you want to win."

Suddenly, the image of Lydia popped up in his mind.

"The thing that inspires you."

Stiles' gaze suddenly shifted to Isaac and Scott as they both started to throw beer cans at the team. They cheered as everyone had a can in their hand. Stiles lifted his can up in the air.

"To this team."

"TO THIS TEAM!" They repeated at him as they all chugged their beer.

The entire team was just chilling on the field, talking and relaxing with one another. Many of his teammates went up to Stiles to thank him and tell him that they were impressed with his leadership of this team.

As the team sobered up, many began to leave. As Liam was about to leave, Stiles grabbed his arm.

"Come over to my house tomorrow," He told the sophomore. "We need to talk about how we're going to beat Devenford."

Liam simply smiled and nodded as he walked away and got in Isaac's car.

And then it was just Stiles and Scott.

"You know," Scott slurred out. He was obviously still very drunk. "Sometimes I don't know who you are anymore."

Stiles raised an eyebrow and laughed as he helped his best friend up from off the ground.

"Scotty, you know me best."

Scott simply shook his head.

"No, I really don't think I do," Scott said, sobering up a little. "Because lately, I know you've been lying to me. And it doesn't seem to bother you!"

Stiles tensed up as he loosened his grip on his best friend. He looked at his face and it was dead serious.

Did he know about Lydia?

 _How?_

"Scott-"

"I know about Lydia, _Stiles_ ," Scott spat out, emphasizing his name. "I know that you've been hanging out with her and ditching us."

Stiles was silent as he allowed Scott to stand up by himself.

"Does anyone else know?" He asked quietly. "Do Allison and Malia know?"

Scott straightened up as he sighed and shook his head.

"No," He said firmly. "I've kept it to myself. And I kept telling myself 'Stiles has to have a good reason!' Because why would my _best friend_ keep something so big from me?

Stiles didn't speak.

"Why, Stiles? Why Lydia?" Scott finally questioned. "Why did you have to pick such a complicated situation at this time? Can't you just screw around with someone else-"

"I'm not just screwing around, SCOTT! _I LOVE HER!_ "

His voice echoed throughout the empty field as Stiles stared at the ground and Scott stared at him.

"Stiles-"

"I didn't choose for this to happen, Scotty, it just happened, and I love her, and I know it's complicated, God, I know! I haven't told you guys yet because Allison and Malia silently hate her and I didn't know which side you, Isaac, and Kira would have taken, and I…" Stiles sighed deeply. "I love her so much."

The two boys just stood in complete silence as time passed. Scott was processing everything while Stiles was awaiting for a response.

"Stiles." Scott finally said. "Are you _sure_ that you love her? Because...you know...do you really know what love is? Do any of us know at this age?"

Stiles was processing what Scott was insinuating.

"You don't believe that I actually love her." He concluded. While he was still struggling with the definition of love himself, he let out a cold laugh as he started to walk away from his best friend. "That's great, Scott! See, maybe this is why I didn't tell you!"

"Stiles, I just want to make sure you know your feelings before you go telling her! I'm just-"

"I haven't told her," Stiles said with an eyeroll. "In fact, I just realized it tonight when we were talking to the team. Because she was the one who inspired me to be that guy up there."

Scott sighed in realization and stepped towards Stiles. Stiles put his hands up in defense as he kept walking.

"I would wait a little longer before getting in your car, Scotty," Stiles said calmly. "Or even better, maybe you should just walk home. You had too much to drink."

Scott watched as Stiles got into his jeep and drive away from the school. He sat back down on the grass and put his face in his hands as he groaned.

/

Stiles was a bit hungover and still pissed at Scott when Liam came over to talk battle plans over breakfast.

"So, tell me about the guys on Devenford…" Stiles started, placing a plate of breakfast in front of Liam. "Something that we don't really know."

Liam thought for a minute as he stared at the food and watched Stiles prepare another plate.

"Well…" He started. "I don't know, a lot of the guys are just very stuck up and selfish. They're all pretty good players but they don't work very well as a team...they're always just focused on themselves and getting themselves ahead. Obviously, it generally works most of the time, but…"

Stiles smirked as he put a piece of bacon in his mouth.

"If we can use that against them, we're set."

Liam chuckled and nodded as he shoved some food in his mouth.

"How are you and Lydia doing?" He asked with a mouth full of scrambled eggs. Stiles raised his eyebrows at him.

"You know about that?"

Liam nodded nonchalantly.

"Yeah, Lydia's like my big sister. She tells me everything. If she doesn't tell me, I find out somehow," Liam explained to him. "I was over at her house this week and there was picture of you two up on her board. That means you're special. Only special people go up on that board."

Stiles nodded slowly, comprehending what the boy was telling him.

"We're doing well," He replied shortly. "I really like her. We just haven't really defined ourselves yet and I haven't told any of my friends yet...but Scott found out recently. We actually fought about it last night after the team meeting."

Liam was basically done with his breakfast as he leaned forward towards Stiles.

"Why'd you fight?" He asked curiously.

Stiles closed his eyes and sighed deeply. When he opened his eyes, he saw Liam staring at him with question.

"I might have told him that I love Lydia," He said, causing the sophomore to jump and smile with excitement. "And he basically told me he thought that I didn't actually love her and I don't know what love actually is."

Liam was quiet for a moment before looking up at Stiles again.

"I believe that you love her," He said simply. "I do. You both seem to work well together, and I'm happy if Lydia's happy, which she seems to be. I just want to tell you to be careful. While I don't want you to break Lydia's heart, I don't want to see you get hurt either. And when you carry such a strong word with Lydia, there's bound to be trouble around the corner.

Liam sighed.

"Just be careful. Especially with Brett becoming more aggressive and the classic coming up in a week...Be careful, Stiles."

Stiles smiled.

"Thanks Liam…" He said softly. "For understanding. And for caring."

Liam only grinned.


	6. Chapter 6

After a week of hard work and sweat, the day finally came. The Beacon Hills lacrosse and cheerleading teams boarded the coach bus.

"Okay ladies and gents, it's going to be a long trip to Los Angeles people! Almost 8 hours!" Arianna, the head cheer coach, explained as she took her seat next to Coach Finstock. The bus began moving. "Buckle up and get comfortable!"

Allison was sitting next to Scott and placed her head on his shoulder. Malia and Isaac were relaxing and watching the movie that was on the screen. Stiles was sitting next to Liam. The sophomore was watching Stiles text Lydia and sometimes would make small, quiet comments about things he said.

 _ **Stiles Stilinski (6:00am)** : _Hey. Liam and I just left school. We're on our way to LA. :)

"Wow a smiley face. Real cute, Stiles." Liam commented. Stiles rolled his eyes as he got a reply from Lydia.

 _ **Lydia Martin (6:02am)** : _Really? I just woke up. We're not leaving until like 7:30 _._

 _ **Lydia Martin (6:03am)** : _What time is Beacon Hills' check in time?

 _ **Stiles Stilinski (6:06am)** : _We're scheduled to check in around 3 pm. When's yours?

 _ **Lydia Martin (6:07am)** : _4pm.

"Lucky…" Liam muttered. Stiles shrugged and looked at his phone as another message came in.

 _ **Lydia Martin (6:08am)** : _I haven't seen you all week. I miss you :*

Stiles heard Liam's distasteful groan as he covered his eyes.

"You two are disgustingly cute." He whispered. Stiles rolled his eyes playfully and chuckled.

 _ **Stiles Stilinski (6:10am** ): _I miss you too.

 _ **Stiles Stilinski (6:11am)** : _Also, Liam said that we are "disgustingly cute" so I think that's a compliment?

 _ **Lydia Martin (6:14am)** : _It very much is a compliment. Tell Liam I said hey and thanks. :)

"Oh hey!" Liam exclaims quietly.

 _ **Lydia Martin (6:15am)** : _I have to make sure I have everything for the classic. I will see you and Liam later in LA! C U l8er, cutie :*

Stiles struggled to not type "I love you" because he had mentally agreed that it was still too soon for him to say it.

Also, Liam agreed with him.

 _"Maybe don't tell her yet," Liam told him as he lounged in Stiles' living room one night after practice. "It seems kind of soon. You guys have only been talking and hanging out for what, a month?"_

 _Stiles sighed as he paced around the room. He wasn't wrong. It's actually been a little less than a month._

 _"Yeah….yeah, you're right…" Stiles said, stopping for a minute. "I don't want to scare her with my overwhelming feelings. I don't even know where she is with this. Maybe she doesn't want to be anything more than what we are...undefined...more than friends? I don't know…"_

 _"Oh, I definitely know she wants to be more than whatever you guys are now." Liam told him. Stiles froze staring at the boy to continue. "Well, she's never been this way with any of her past boyfriends or flings. This is something different."_

 _Stiles raised an eyebrow._

 _"So you think she feels the same way?" Stiles thought aloud. "Do you think she loves me too?"_

 _Liam crossed his arms and shrugged._

 _"I don't want to speak for her, because this is a conversation you two should be having," Liam said. "But yeah, I think there's a pretty good chance this is more."_

 _Stiles smiled mostly to himself._

 _"But!" Liam exclaimed. "I still don't think you should say it. Not until you define yourselves. Because, I know that Lydia has trouble with commitment considering everything that happened with her dad and one of her exes...it might scare her. I think she has very strong feelings for you, but hearing those words might just freak her out."_

 _Stiles nodded in understanding, slowly comprehending Liam's words._

 _"Plus, she's really stressed out," Stiles added to himself. "With the classic. Yeah, you're right. I'll just keep it to myself a little longer."_

But Stiles found it getting harder and harder each day as Lydia always found a new way to make Stiles fall in love with her. He turned to his left and noticed that Liam was slumped against the window, with headphones in, and eyes closed. He looked around to the rest of the bed and saw the rest of the bus in this same state.

He slipped his headphones in and fell asleep.

/

Stiles was jolted awake when he felt the bus come to harsh stop. He heard a bunch of the others on the bus groan as people we waking up.

"Okay! Lunch time! Everyone should be back on the bus by 11:30!" Coach FInstock yelled rather loudly, waking up more people.

Everyone piled out of the bus and stretched out. Stiles was still kind of pissed off at Scott, so he glanced at his friends before walking away with Liam and two other teammates.

Scott watched them walk away as Allison came to his side and hooked their arms together.

"Okay, what happened between you two?" Allison asked as the rest of their friends joined him in watching Stiles walk in the opposite direction. "You guys have been like this the entire week."

Isaac, Malia, and Kira nodded in unison.

"I hope this doesn't affect your guys' game this week," Isaac said quietly. "Maybe you should just apologize. Even if it's not your fault. We can't afford to have our co-captains fighting on or off the field." Isaac and Malia began to walk towards food with Kira trailing slightly behind them.

Allison looked up at Scott as they began to follow their friends.

"Scott?"

Scott sighed as they stopped for a second and he pulled his arm away from Allison.

"I just...I said some things I shouldn't have," He told her briefly. "I should have kept my opinion to myself. I wasn't there for him when he needed me. I wasn't being supportive."

Allison quirked an eyebrow as she pulled Scott along inside to get food.

"What do you mean? What weren't you supportive of?"

Scott closed his eyes and took a deep breath in.

"Sorry, Ally, but I'm not sure you should be hearing this from me." He told her simply.

Now, this made Allison confused. What did this have to do with her?

As Scott got in line to order food for the both of them, her gaze shifted to Stiles, who was sitting at a table with the Devenford transfer and two other unfamiliar guys from the team. They were laughing and eating and she narrowed her eyes at him. What was going on?

Stiles caught her gaze and his original smile disappeared slowly, being replaced with a more humble and gentle one. He sighed and waved slightly to Allison. She softly smiled back before he looked away and continued to talk to Liam.

Allison crossed her arms and looked between Stiles and Scott before looking for a place to sit down.

Three hours later, they had finally arrived in LA. The Beacon Hills teams took a group picture after coming off the bus and checking in.

Scott had finally found his room after dropping Allison off at her and Malia's room. The girls' rooms were on the third floor, right above his floor.

Scott had almost forgotten that he and Stiles were rooming together. He only remembered as he was about to enter the room but heard Stiles' voice speaking from inside the room. He knew that he shouldn't be eavesdropping but he was doing it anyway.

"Yeah, I just got to my room. This place is pretty cool.." Stiles was on the phone, obviously.

"I bet. We always get the nicest places," He heard a female voice say. It was Lydia, on speaker phone. "What floor are you on?"

"Second," Stiles responded. Scott heard him drop a bag on the ground. "I'm rooming with Brett, you know. Super excited for that."

Lydia laughed at his sarcasm.

"I'm really sorry," She said, still laughing.. "Try not to kill him in his sleep."

"I'm gonna have to try really hard." Stiles scoffed. It sounded like he was unpacking some of his stuff.

"Do you know where my room's gonna be?" She asked him.

"I think it'll most likely be on the third floor," He replied. "At least that's where Malia and Allison are."

Lydia sighed deeply.

"I forgot I'm rooming with Allison and Malia," She said with a sad tone. "You think they would kill me in my sleep?"

Stiles chuckled.

"No, I don't think they would."

"I'm assuming you're rooming with Scott and Garrett then?" Lydia commented. "How are you and Scott anyways? You seemed a little off when talking about him last time we spoke. Everything okay?"

Scott tensed up as he leaned in a little closer to hear Stiles' intake of his breath.

"We're...not really speaking right now." Was all his best friend said.

"Something happen?"

Stiles was quiet for a minute. The entire room was quiet.

"I...We...We just didn't agree on some stuff, that's all. I'm sure it'll pass this week," Stiles said, shrugging it off. "We need to be on top of our game anyway with the classic. We've been working too hard for it to go to waste because of my disagreement with my best friend, who just happens to be my co-captain."

Lydia sighed.

"Okay. Well, if you need to talk about it, remember I'm here for you," She said, comfortingly. "You were there for me with the whole Brett situation, so…"

 _Brett situation?_ Scott thought to himself. What was the Brett situation?

"Thanks," Stiles said with an obvious smile. Scott could hear it in his voice. "Hey, by the way, I've been meaning to talk to you about...um, you know...defining this relationship...Like where we want this to go and everything...I just-"

"I know," Lydia said quickly. "I have too. But we've both been so stressed out about the classic, that I thought we could save it til after the classic. When we've both won." She had a hopeful tone behind her words. "But in the meantime, I know you haven't exactly talked to your friends about us yet...and I haven't really either, so…"

"We can keep it on the downlow, yeah." Stiles said with disappointment. "It's going to be really hard to hide this when I'm going to be around you almost every day."

"I know." Lydia sighed sadly. "But soon. We'll figure this out soon."

Suddenly, Scott felt a pang of pity for his best friend. He hadn't realized how hard it must have been to hide this relationship with a girl he really liked from everyone he cared about. Scott wasn't so sure if he could do it if he was in that position.

Scott wasn't sure what he would do in Stiles' position.

"Okay, we're getting back on the bus. We're like an hour away," Lydia told him. "We can meet up somewhere before the first official introduction ceremony of the classic. I think that's at 8, so we can go somewhere with Liam."

"Sounds good to me," He answered. "I'll see you later."

"See you soon."

Scott waited a few more seconds after Stiles hung up the phone to enter their room. As Scott entered the room, he noticed that he picked the bed closest the door.

"I know how much you like the window bed." He commented simply as he plopped down on his bed.

Scott nodded slightly as he made his way to his side.

There was an awkward silence in the room. But as Stiles was about to put headphones on his ears, Scott finally spoke to him.

"Look, I'm sorry." Scott started. "I shouldn't have said what I said."

Stiles turned to look at him and sat up a bit.

"It wasn't my place to doubt or define your own feelings. Your feelings are _yours_. I think it was partially the alcohol and then me just being slightly upset that you didn't tell me…" He continued. "I thought about it a little bit, and I honestly don't know what I would have done in your position. It's a very tough spot that you're in and I should have just supported you instead of questioning you."

Scott looked up to see Stiles staring at the wall.

"I'm really sorry."

Stiles finally turned his head to look at him and smiled almost sadly.

"Thanks, Scotty."

Stiles got up to give Scott a bro hug.

"Damn, I missed you, man." Scott commented as they pulled away.

"Me too."

"So…" Scott started. "You and Lydia."

Stiles nodded slowly with a humble smile on his face.

"It killed me every day that I didn't tell you. I just wanted you to know that," Stiles told him. "But, yeah. We're getting there. I'm...not sure what we are yet, but I like her. A lot. Words can't describe how much I like her, Scotty.

Scott silently nodded as he watched his best friend.

"And, honestly, it scares me sometimes. Because I don't think I have ever felt this way about anyone."

Scott understood that fear. He used to feel it all the time with Allison.

"You guys will work it out, I'm sure of it…" Scott said. "It's pretty obvious you have very strong feelings for her, and that's really the only thing that matters."

Stiles smiled at his best friend, slapping a hand on his back.

"Thanks, man," He said. "I really want her to meet you. You want to come with Liam and I to meet up with her before the introduction ceremony?"

The grin spread across Scott's face was wider than the world.

"Of course."

Scott, Stiles, and Liam were standing and talking in front of a coffee shop that was awhile away from the campus where the classic was taking place. They were waiting for Lydia, who had just arrived on the bus from Devenford.

"She's about two blocks away." Stiles told them, interrupting their conversation about one of their teammates.

Scott looked over to Stiles and noticed he looked a little pale.

"What are you so worried about, dude?" Scott asked with a teasing tone in his voice. "I won't embarrass you, I promise."

Stiles rolled his eyes.

"I don't know. This feels so…" He paused. "Real. Lydia's officially meeting my best friend since diapers."

At that, Lydia appeared amongst the crowd, walking swiftly towards them. When she saw them a bright smile popped on her face, walking a little bit quicker to reach them.

"Hey guys!" She exclaimed, giving Liam a side hug as she approached them and pecking Stiles on the cheek. "Sorry I'm a little late. As cheer captain, our coach assigned me with making sure everyone got in their room okay."

Stiles grinned down at her as she spoke. Scott noticed that and laughed to himself. His best friend was so screwed.

"It's not a problem, Lydia," Scott said, extending his hand to her. "I'm Scott. Stiles' best friend."

Lydia took his hand and firmly shook it, surprising Scott a bit. Her face lit up instantly as he began speaking.

"Scott!" She said with a bright tone. "It's so nice to meet you. Stiles talks about you all the time."

Scott smirked over at Stiles who proceeded to punch his arm.

The four head in and they had a surprisingly good conversation, They talked about a lot of things: the Beacon Hills Devenford rivalry, Liam's transfer, Devenford's school atmosphere, how Liam and Lydia became friends, grade school and middle school, and first kisses.

"Well, my first kiss was Stacy Rubin in the eighth grade," Liam continued as Lydia began laughing. "It was terrible. My friends had been pushing me to ask her out for months, and I finally did and it was the worst. That girl has too much tongue."

The table erupting into laughter.

"Well mine was Allison, believe it or not," Scott said, watching Lydia's head tilt to the right. "I was kind of a dork before high school and before I joined lacrosse and didn't have much luck with girls...until Allison moved to town. We immediately clicked and we kissed on our first date."

Lydia smiled gently as she looked over at Stiles.

"That's so cute," She said, her eyes wide and her cheeks flushed. "Stiles, what about you?"

Stiles immediately looked to Scott. Scott rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Swing girl?" He said, raising one of his eyebrows. "Really? We're back to this again. I don't think that counts, bud."

Stiles leaned forward a little against the table.

"It totally counts, dude! She kissed me on my lips, that is a first kiss."

Lydia and Liam looked between the two boys with confusion.

"Swing girl?" Lydia asked with an amused tone. "Who's swing girl?"

Stile averted his attention to Lydia, smiling as he looked at her.

"Swing girl was actually the best thing that ever happened to me," Stiles started. "It was the first grade, and I was kind of a loner. Not a lot of the kids liked me, and they bullied me a lot. I didn't have any friends. But this girl in my class came up to me and told me that I was better than them and I should just ignore it. She kissed me _on the lips_ and told me to go talk to the boy on the playground."

Scott sighed contently and put up his hand.

"I was the boy on the playground."

Lydia's eyes widened and her eyebrows rose.

"And then that was when you and Scott became friends?"

Scott and Stiles exchanged a look before nodding.

"Basically."

Lydia leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, a smirk forming on her face.

"Wow," She said. "I guess you owe this girl everything."

Stiles sat there, staring at nothing particular.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

The table was quiet for a second as Liam checked his phone.

"We should head over to the ceremony now."

Lydia's face flashed with a frown and Scott realized that she might not be able to hang out with them or Stiles for a while after this. Everyone at Devenford and Beacon Hills would go berserk if they saw the head cheerleader of Devenford hanging out with boys from the Beacon Hills lacrosse team.

"We should probably go separately," Lydia said with a sad face. She stood up from her seat. "I can go first. My girls are probably wondering where I am anyways."

Stiles nodded sadly as Lydia leaned down to kiss him.

Both of them were still getting used to the idea of public displays of affection.

"We'll find a time and place to hang out soon, okay?" She whispered to him. He only nodded in response watching her walk out of the coffee shop.

Stiles turned to Scott, awaiting to hear what he had to say about her.

"Stiles, she's great," Scott finally said, laughing as Stiles released a relieving sigh. "Honestly. She's really great for you."

Stiles only smile, waiting until the next time he could hold Lydia in his arms.


	7. Chapter 7

**a/n: hi i'm back! i updated a while back, but here's another update, and it's a long one! woo. summer is coming to a close and i'm gonna try and fit as much writing as i can until i become busy again.**

 **hope you guys enjoy!**

* * *

"Where the hell were you guys?" Malia asked with a huff as Liam, Scott, and Stiles approached the Beacon Hills teams. She stood crossed armed next to Allison, who simply just looked curious.

Scott shrugged and looked at Stiles and Liam, who seemed to be doing the same thing.

"We were just exploring."

Malia rolled her eyes as she turned around and leaned into Isaac, who had moved to stand next to her.

The ceremony started, and it wasn't anything special. They had endured three years of this ceremony and it was the same old thing every year. For lacrosse, they announced each team, where they were from, their rank in the league as well as team captains. For cheerleading, they did something similar, except they discussed past championships and wins.

Devenford cheer squad won too many to announce, which caused Allison to get very mad.

As the ceremony was over, each of the teams retreated to their dorms as tomorrow was the practice day. All the teams practiced in front of each other just to get a feel for each team's strength and the following day, the competitions started.

Stiles could not be more excited and pumped for the practice day tomorrow. He was ready to show Devenford and the other schools just what Beacon Hills was made of and how much they've improved.

As Stiles, Scott, and Allison made their way to their rooms, they accidentally got on the same elevator as Lydia.

She and Stiles exchanged awkward looks that thankfully went unnoticed by Allison, who was too absorbed and distracted by her conversation with Scott. She almost didn't notice the strawberry blonde.

Stiles and Scott looked at each other before they realized they had to get off on the second floor. Allison regretfully said goodbye, telling them both to get some sleep tonight.

As they left, Allison was stuck in the elevator alone with Lydia.

Allison still felt terrible about all the mean things she had said to Lydia in the diner, but she was too stubborn to actually apologize for it. Lydia didn't mind as much, but she just wished that the awkwardness would disappear.

"I'm sorry if I did anything to upset you." Lydia simply said, really unsure about if or what she should say in this situation. The elevator stopped, reaching the third floor, but neither made an effort to rush out.

Allison snapped her head in the direction of the girl, shocked at her words.

" _You're_ apologizing to _me_?" Allison wondered incredulously. "I should be the one apologizing. You didn't do anything wrong."

Lydia looked away and shrugged.

"I must have done something to make you hate me so much." She muttered quietly, stepping out of the elevator and into the hallway.

Allison followed her. And not just because they were staying in the same room.

"Wait," Allison exclaimed, gently pulling Lydia's shoulder to stop her from walking any further. "Look, I should have apologized first. You didn't do anything but your job as a cheer captain and I was just…"

Lydia was waiting to hear what she had to say as Allison closed her eyes and sighed deeply, internally laughing to herself.

"I was just jealous of you," Allison admitted, opening her eyes to see Lydia. "I was extremely jealous of you because you've won literally every competition that we've ever competed in since our freshmen year and..you make it look so easy. You're a natural born leader and it took me a long time to become one. So, I was just envious of how well you could lead your team to success. I want so badly to be like you."

Lydia's eyebrows rose at the admission and she gave Allison a small look of sympathy. It must have been really hard to admit that to her rival.

"Wow," Lydia said, still shocked. "Thank you, I think...I guess I'm just surprised that other people saw me that way."

Allison laughed as the two girls began slowly walking to their room.

"Of course they do," She added. "It's amazing stuff you do out on the field. Perfect technique, original stunts and music...you're the real thing, Lydia Martin. All cheerleaders look up to you."

Lydia giggled as she unlocked their door and they both walked in.

"That means alot coming from you, Allison."

Malia stared at the two girls as they came in, confused as to how Allison and Lydia were suddenly friendly. Though, it seemed that Malia was also making friends with Lydia's teammate, Cora.

"Well, aren't you two being all friendly?" Malia said with a smirk on her face. Cora laughed along with her as Allison rolled her eyes. She looked to Lydia, who had a gentle smile on her face.

As Allison plopped next to Malia, introducing herself to Cora. Lydia just watched as Beacon Hills cheerleaders interacted with Devenford cheerleaders and was amazed at the sight. It was never seen before, but suddenly, Lydia realized she was seeming watching history, as an old time rivalry began to fade away right in their hotel room.

Lydia was happy that she was finally getting to know Allison and Malia, two of Stiles' closest friends. Talking to them was one step closer to her and Stiles' relationship being public. She only hoped that the Stiles, Scott, and the lacrosse team were doing the same.

It wasn't until Liam texted her that the lacrosse teams were fighting when she realized that the boys were never going to get along.

/

Not even ten minutes since Scott and Stiles left the elevator to go to their rooms until something went wrong. They walked along the hallway to see that Isaac was on the ground and Mason and Liam were standing in front of him, arguing with mysterious figures behind the door.

Isaac looked ready to fight until Scott and Stiles ran to his side, calming him down. They weren't surprised to see Ethan and Aiden standing there, arms crossed, with Brett to their side.

"Well if it isn't my two lovely roommates," Brett said with an evil smirk. "I was wondering if you two were going to come in at all."

It took everything in Stiles to not strangle him to death. He wanted him to pay for everything that he was doing to Lydia. She didn't deserve it.

Scott noticed Stiles' anger and put a hand on his shoulder. Stiles instantly untensed, only glaring at Brett and the twins now. They helped Isaac get up to his feet, asking if he was okay.

"Fine," He said, staring holes into Brett. "I'm fine."

Stiles crossed his arms together as more lacrosse players came out of their rooms to see the commotion.

"Just leave us alone, Brett, alright?" Stiles said firmly, standing his ground. Scott, Isaac, and Liam also stood their ground, as Mason hid quietly behind them.

Brett laughed coldly.

"And if I don't?"

Stiles felt his fist automatically clench, but was distracted as he heard the elevator ding. He turned to his left to see some familiar faces.

It was Allison, Malia, Kira, and Lydia. Wait what?

As the Beacon Hills boys were distracted by the girls' arrival, Brett took the opportunity in front of him.

He punched Scott square in the jaw.

"Oops," He said, laughing with Ethan and Aiden. "My bad, McCall."

Scott winced slightly as his hand touched his face, but he just glared harder at Brett. Suddenly, Allison was at his side asking if he was okay. He only nodded as he glanced at Stiles.

Stiles was seething, trying to restrain himself from doing anything he shouldn't.

Lydia made her way over to Liam who was on the right side of Stiles. She didn't want to make it look like she knew anyone on the Beacon Hills team besides Liam.

"Are you okay?" She asked Liam as she walked closer to him, fitting herself in between Liam and Stiles. But Lydia also rubbed Stiles' back comfortingly in a subtle way. It calmed him down and comforted him to see that even though they couldn't interact, Lydia was still trying to.

Liam nodded to her, giving Mason, who was witnessing Lydia touching Stiles, a deadly look. Mason only gulped as he nodded to his new found best friend.

Lydia suddenly removed her hand from Stiles' back and put them on her hips.

"Brett," She said, her voice venomous, causing the Devenford players to look at her with surprise. "Do you really have to do this now?"

All of sudden, Brett had an expression of guilt and embarrassment on his face, which shocked everyone around them. Stiles clenched his jaw, knowing that Brett was only listening to her because he had a stupid crush on Lydia.

"Sorry, Lydia," Brett spluttered out dumbly, his face turning a bright red. "Y-You're right. We, uh, can save it for the field."

Malia, meanwhile, looked over to her new friend, Cora, who looked a tad uncomfortable. She kept stealing glances of Brett, but looked away after a second. Malia raised an eyebrow as she watched her.

Cora liked Brett.

Malia turned her attention to Brett, observing the looks that he was giving Lydia. He looked vulnerable in a way that Malia could never expect from a guy like Brett. He wanted to impress her, make good by her, or at least appear to.

Lydia simply rolled her eyes as she patted Liam's back. Liam earned a death stare from Brett as Lydia walked away from them, motioning Cora to follow her. Malia watched as Cora and Lydia began talking before heading back to the elevator. She gave a reassuring look to her friends before tugging Allison away from her boyfriend.

As she and Allison walked away, she saw all the lacrosse players retreating to their rooms, including Brett, who seemingly backed off pretty quickly after the run-in with Devenford's head cheerleader.

It wasn't until she and Allison got into the elevator that she realized it.

"Oh my God," She said aloud. "Brett likes Lydia."

Allison tilted her head to the side as she listened to her friend.

"What?"

Malia only shook her head, contemplating what that meant for Cora. She suddenly felt sympathy for her newfound friend, and she barely knew her. But she couldn't even imagine what it was like to see the boy you were crushing on to be in love with one of your best friends.

That night, Malia gave Cora a sad, but encouraging smile before the four girls went to bed. She watched as Lydia and Allison continued to talk about something amicably, and Malia suddenly realized why Brett liked her.

Lydia Martin was perfection in a girl. She was beautiful, but also smart and nice. She was a good leader, a good teammate, and a good friend. She was friendly, and could seemingly make friends with anyone that crossed her path.

Malia took a mental note to talk to Cora about Brett tomorrow between practicing. And with that, she fell asleep to the sound of Lydia and Allison's quiet laughter.

/

The Beacon Hills and Devenford cheer squads were actually getting along. They were stretching together in the morning, pairing up, and talking to girls on the opposite team. Allison and Lydia stood in front of them in a similar fashion, discussing how great this idea was.

"You know, I think I like it a whole lot better when we're not fighting," Lydia said with a smile on her face. "This is nice."

Allison nodded in agreement, watching both their squads get along just fine.

"Even with the competition, I think this is better for both of us," Allison added. "Probably even more for me. Beating you was like the one thing on my mind at all times during cheer seasons. I want to win so bad. But I think this takes off some pressure, and I feel a little bit better about our standing."

Lydia grinned as she clapped and told the girls to break off into their individual teams. Lydia and Allison separated to practice their girls on their own. Allison tried her best not to watch how Lydia led her squad, but it was incredibly hard. Even though they were friends now, she still wanted to know her leadership tactics.

Maybe after the classic she'd let her in on some secrets.

The boys, on the other hand, were not making any progress with each other.

Stiles noticed that two cheer squads were friendly with each other, but the lacrosse teams were not having it. As soon as both teams got on the field, they broke off immediately to their separate teams, not even acknowledging each other.

Well okay, and Brett was still giving him a death glare, but what's new?

Both teams began practicing, and Stiles noticed that Brett couldn't help but stop and watch. Stiles smirked at Scott who noticed the same thing as him. A few of the other teams were looking at them as well, thoroughly confused and impressed at how much they had improved.

Stiles and Scott stepped off the field for a second to observe the other teams as Liam led drills on the field.

"Well we're definitely giving all these other teams something to look at." Scott remarked quietly, his arms crossed as they were observing a team from a neighboring town.

Stiles only smiled.

"Yeah, something to worry about, too," He said. "So, I was looking at the bracket, and because we did so poorly last year, we're super low on there."

Scott shrugged. They both had expected it.

"How many teams do we have to beat to get on top with Devenford?"

Stiles shook his head to himself.

"A lot," He stated. "Tomorrow morning, we play Harold Stevens Prep. After that, we have eight more teams to beat until Sunday."

Scott internally flinched at the number. Eight teams were a lot, and he was starting to wonder how they could actually pull this off.

"That's a lot, Stiles. That's almost all of the teams here," Scott said to him. "Do you think our guys will be able to handle it?"

Stiles crossed his arms.

"I want to beat Devenford so bad, Scott. You have no idea," He told his best friend, briefly glancing at Lydia, who was clapping and shouting out counts to her squad. "For more reason than one. And I know it's going to be difficult, but I believe in us. We've been working really hard and we've already caught the attention of every other team on the first day."

Stiles suddenly nodded to himself, as to remind him that this was going to work.

"We got this, Scotty."

/

After a long day of practicing, all the teams had the night off before competitions began the next day.

Stiles, Scott, and the rest of their friends decided to go out and explore.

"Where should we go?" Kira asked the group excitedly. Scott slung his arm around Allison as he shrugged.

"Honestly, no idea. There's a couple of cool places around here, I think."

Isaac was holding Malia's hand when he spoke up.

"Well I remember seeing this really cool recreational place a few blocks away from here. It was kinda small and low key, so I don't think any of the other schools would go there," He said, smiling down at his girlfriend. "They'll all probably try to get into bars or something. But this place has a lot of fun things. They have an arcade, bowling, and mini golf."

Allison grinned as she grabbed ahold of Scott's hand.

"We should go there!" She exclaimed, backing up Isaac's idea.

The rest of the group seemed to agree.

"Hey, is it alright if we invite Liam and Mason?" Stiles asked his friends real quick. "I just want them to have fun with the rest of us."

The group agreed wholeheartedly. But then.

"Hey, wait, why don't I invite Lydia and Cora, then?" Allison suggested with a smile. "No worries, Lydia and I are like friends now. And Cora seems super cool too. It wouldn't hurt to get to know them a little more, right?"

Stiles tried to hide how quickly his body tensed up at the mention of Lydia's name. He and Scott exchanged looks before they realized that the rest of their friend group had already agreed that it was okay for the two Devenford cheerleaders to join them.

"Stiles, could you text Liam?" Malia asked as she held her phone to text Cora. "We'll be leaving in a bit."

Stiles gulped and nodded.

 _Stiles Stilinski (3:54pm)_ : Hey, man. Scott and the rest of us are wondering if you and Mason wanted to tag along with us to go out tonight. We're going to some game place. Should be fun. Meet us down in the lobby asap.

 _Stiles Stilinski (3:55pm)_ : Please come. Allison just invited Lydia and her friend Cora to come with us too. I don't know how I'm going to pull this off.

A few seconds later, Stiles got a text back.

 _Liam Dunbar (3:56pm)_ : Mason and I are on our way down. To the rescue!

Stiles let out a breath that he didn't realize he was holding. The group talked amongst themselves for a while until Lydia, Cora, Mason, and Liam all showed up at the same time. They were talking as they got off the elevator, smiling as they saw the rest of the group waiting for them.

"Lydia!" Allison greeted with a smile. "I'm really glad you could make it.

Allison turned to the rest of the group.

"Guys, I know this is weird, but this is Lydia, the head cheerleader of Devenford's cheer squad. She's super awesome," Allison said. "And this is Cora, a member of the squad. She's really cool too."

Allison then introduced everyone to the two girls before they head off. It took everything in Stiles not to stare at Lydia for too long. She seemed to be doing a pretty good job of pretending not to know Stiles though.

They had finally arrived to the game place. They all paid the money which gave them access to a million different things like bowling, mini golf, and an arcade. There was almost no one else there too, and they basically had the place to themselves.

"Ally, want to bowl?" Scott asked as he and Stiles started to set up a lane. Liam and Mason were already sitting, getting their bowling shoes on. Allison stopped talking to Lydia, who was walking with her. She noticed that Kira, Malia, Isaac, and Cora were off to start with mini golf. Allison shrugged.

"Sure, why not." She said. She turned to Lydia with a smile. "You like bowling?"

Lydia laughed as she shrugged in response.

"I like bowling."

They started the game, and everyone playing soon realized that Allison and Liam sucked, Scott and Mason were decent, but Stiles and Lydia were really, _really_ good.

"Lydia, you are so good at this!" Allison said with a giggle as they looked up to the scoreboard. Lydia and Stiles were basically tied.

As Lydia's turn was over, she started to feel hungry. Everyone seemed to agree with her.

"I can go get a pizza from food bar." Lydia offered. Allison nodded in response, about to get up to go with her. Stiles saw this and beat her to it.

"I can go with you," Stiles said, half smiling, trying not to look Allison in the eye. "Come on."

With that Stiles and Lydia got up to get pizza, and Allison sat back down next to Scott, her suspicious eyes following the pair until they were no longer out of sight.

As soon as they entered the food bar and no one could see them, Lydia hit Stiles' arm.

"Ow!" He exclaimed quietly. "What was that for?"

Lydia crossed her arms, looking around to make sure no one was around them.

"That was subtle! Not!" Lydia whispered. "Allison looked super suspicious."

Stiles shrugged his shoulders, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Whatever," He told her. "I mean she'll know eventually, right? We're going to figure this out and I'm going to tell the rest of my friends after the classic. And you are too. That's what we agreed, right?"

Lydia only nodded as she order a cheese pizza. She turned around as she was done, sighing.

"You know, I love that Allison and I are finally on good terms," Lydia started, grabbing his hand and holding it in hers. "But, now, I don't know I feel weird about hiding this. I don't know how we're doing this so well. Your friends are great."

Stiles and Lydia stood in silence, still holding hands. They only smiled at each other, just enjoying the presence of the other.

It wasn't until Scott ran into the bar that they broke apart slightly. Scott raised an eyebrow at them as he walked closer.

"You are lucky that I was the one to come check on you guys and not anyone else," He said, patting Stiles on the back. "Allison was worried that it was getting awkward for you two in here. Obviously not, because we know things she doesn't."

Lydia smiled awkwardly as she exchanged a look with Stiles. Then a thought crossed through her mind.

"Do you think Allison will be mad at me when she finds out about me and Stiles?" She asked Scott, genuinely curious.

Scott saw quiet for a second, actually thinking about it. He eventually shook his head.

"No, I don't think she'd be mad at you," Scott concluded. "Stiles, though…"

Stiles rolled his eyes and punched Scott's arm.

"Thanks, Scotty."

As soon as the pizza was done and served, Lydia picked it up, following Stiles and Scott back outside to their friends where they ate and continued to bowl.

Lydia ended up winning the game, to Stiles' dismay, and Stiles had to force himself to hide the smile that he wanted to give her. As they finished the pizza, Isaac, Kira, Malia, and Cora came back from mini golfing.

After switching, in which Lydia, Allison, Scott, Stiles, Mason, and Liam mini golfed and Malia, Cora, Kira, and Isaac bowled, the group decided to head out. They wanted to be at their best for the competition tomorrow.

Everyone said goodbye as they reached the hotel and had depart ways in the elevator. The boys got off on the second floor, bidding farewells to the girls. Stiles had to mindfully not look at Lydia as the door closed and her figure disappeared from his line of sight.

As Allison, Malia, Cora, Lydia, and Kira got up to the third floor, Kira disappeared in her room as the four other girls walked to theirs. Malia and Cora were heatedly discussing something about basketball while Allison and Lydia were laughing about one of the guys on the Devenford lacrosse team.

"You and Stiles seemed to really click tonight," Allison casually added as they entered the room. "I could totally set you guys up after the classic."

Lydia felt a bead of sweat form on the back of her neck. Lydia didn't really have to lie to anyone at school to keep her relationship with Stiles a secret. She only did a good job of keeping her demeanor constant, which was very hard since Stiles was such a gentleman. She had stop herself from smiling at his text messages during class or thinking about the night before when they just relaxed in her bed. But she never had to outright lie. Not until today.

This was it: the performance of her lifetime.

"Oh, I don't know…" Lydia muttered, lying straight through her teeth. "I mean, we're all getting along now, but there's still that school rivalry between Beacon Hills and Devenford. We don't want a Romeo and Juliet situation on our hands."

Allison and Lydia laughed together at her joke, making Lydia a little bit more comfortable. But she still didn't like the lying.

"Oh come on," Allison pushed, knocking her shoulder with Lydia's in a playful manner. "I think you would do Stiles some good."

Lydia smiled sheepishly as she scratched the back of her head and wiped the sweat off her neck.

"I'll think about it."

Allison smiled brightly with satisfaction, grabbing a few things before running to the bathroom. Lydia looked over to Malia and Cora, who were still immersed in their own conversation to care about what Lydia was thinking about.

She thought about Stiles and how great things were going. She thought about Allison and lying to her. She thought about how much harder it was going to be this week.

So much harder.


End file.
